Desires of the Heart: Confliction
by A Little Birdie Tells Me
Summary: You love your home and your friends, and would never think of betraying your loved ones... Yet when the moment arrives you are faced with choices between life and death, what will you chose? You keep telling yourself it is a sacrifice for the greater good, but is it? Or are you giving in to the darkest desires of your heart?
1. The Trap

**DISCLAIMER: **I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only and without any intention of infringing upon any copyright. Thanks.

**A/N:** Welcome to my first ItaSaku fic. I've been taking a break as a lot has been going on with me, however, it wasn't enough to keep me away from reading things. So I've been reading many of the awesome ItaSaku works of fellow authors and was deeply inspired to write about this couple. I don't know if I have done enough but I hope you will find it a good read. Feedbacks are most appreciated.

Also you should know that I'd posted this story (only the first chapter) up in another of my account but then had a change of heart and decided to post it up from this account. It has been deleted from my other account. Just thought that I tell you.

* * *

**Desires of the Heart: Confliction**

_Chapter I: The Trap_

* * *

Sakura looked around her surroundings. It was without a doubt a small civilian village, situated just on the outskirts of Konoha, about some sixty kilometers off Konoha's gates. The sentries at the village gates had cast her suspicious looks when she had checked in, adamant to find any reason to not grant her entry. Even after showing the scroll in proof of her mission here, which bore the Hokage's own seal, they had refused to acknowledge it for the longest time and feign ignorance. It was just when Sakura's temper was on the verge of ticking, they probably sensing the evil aura emitting from her, had stepped aside to let her pass through, however, not bothering to hide their hostility.

'_It was reasonable.' _She thought. Reflecting on the fact that shinobi were always running around, breaking havoc in the peaceful lives of the civilians in the small towns, just as much as the other shinobi countries, she couldn't really blame them for wanting a bit of peace for a change.

'_I guess if I were a civilian, I would have wanted the same thing and distrusted shinobi just as much.' _She mused.

Sakura laughed to herself as how it would all have been if the Rookie Nine had indeed been civilians, occurred to her out of the blue.

'_Well, for one Naruto would always be Naruto, ninja or not.'_ It made her Inner-self snort. He probably would have been painting the Hokage Mountains as his notion of prank either way. She thought about herself and how she would have been.

'_Definitely wouldn't have learned to grow a backbone.'_ The small voice at the back of her mind said tauntingly, _'Would be a damsel in distress for sure... Not that you are any better as a shinobi.'_ The snide comment from Inner Sakura sparked her anger.

'_Shut up unless you want me to shut you out like I've done for so many years before. Remember those days?'_ She threatened her inner deviously.

'_Fine. Fine. Keep your hair on, lady._' Inner grumbled, shutting up for now much to Sakura's relief.

In the peace of her mind, her thoughts began to drift. And how would a civilian Sasuke been like...? Sakura closed her eyes and tried to stop her thoughts from trailing off to the young Uchiha boy before it was too late.

It had been five years that he had left them; left her lying on a cold bench. Since then they had turned over the entire five countries searching for him, wanting to bring him back with them, ready to welcome him back with open arms. But there was no sign of him anywhere. It made them question if he had ever even survived Orochimaru's evil intentions in the first place; it was no secret that Orochimaru wanted to take over the young Uchiha's body.

But he did survive; Sasori had told her where to find him as a reward for defeating him. And they had hurried across the nation, dreading that they would be too late. But no, Sasuke had been there, waiting for them. And a glimpse of him was all they caught before he had disappeared, again. But in that one glimpse of him, they also had an unfortunate glimpse of the new power he had achieved over the years, for which he had once chosen to desert them in the first place.

Sakura had taken in every minute detail. He was taller. He had let his hair grow out over the years so that it framed his face. His features were sharp as ever, chiseled to perfection. He had more muscles than she could remember him having, a sign of his progress, giving him an admirable physique. He looked as composed as ever, his face wiped off into a blank slate of impassiveness to the point of being the perfect shinobi tool, as Sakura had read countless times in some rulebook or another. Not the slightest flicker of emotion crossed his features once as he gazed down at them. If he remembered them, or had the slightest regret about the path he had chosen, she couldn't tell as he didn't have any qualms about hiding it behind the cold exterior that he had carved under the tutelage of the snake Sanin.

But what alarmed her was the dawning that there was something darker, far more sinister lurking in his cold gaze than she could ever remember witnessing in those beautiful ebony orbs. And even before he had raised his katana against them, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she knew that the Sasuke they had once known had changed. The boy that she had fallen in love was gone. All that was left was this...

'_Shell,_' She hissed inwardly, her eyes narrowing as the unpleasant memory began to replay in her mind over and over again, much to her frustration. This was why she didn't like to take a trip down memory lane; it kept haunting her, tormenting her over and over again to the point of destroying whatever effort she had given to forge a wall against the tide of emotions pent up in her heart.

And then of course, Sasuke had disappeared once again. And Sakura found herself wanting that he would disappear from her heart altogether; it hurt her just to think about him. And it hurt her more to think that there was very little she could do to save the boy from his erroneous ways. But it didn't mean for a second that she would stop trying. When they returned to Konoha, she had at once resumed her training to push herself to attain greater strength so that the next time she crossed paths with Sasuke, she could bring him back home for real, even if she had to drag him all the way over to Konoha.

But more and more time flew by and there was hardly any news about Sasuke. And by the passing time, Sakura found her faith to be wavering little by little each day. Maybe it was fated that they couldn't bring him back, maybe he was destined to lead the life of a rogue. For months she had teetered on the verge of indecision of whether to continue with their delusional wish to bring him back or to stop all this pointless nonsense and instead, concentrate on her own ambitions for a change.

And suddenly one day she had feebly made up her mind about moving on with her life, hoping that by each passing day would eventually wax the determination that she lacked. As to whether she had indeed achieved the willpower, she couldn't tell. But every time her heart tugged painfully in her chest when thinking of a lingering reminiscence of the dark-haired boy she had once sworn to love, it was a reminder that she had failed her resolve miserably.

Sakura sighed, and raised her eyes from the ground that she had been eyeing for quite some time now; fearing that the tap to her eyes that she had been very cautious to keep shut could open up anytime now, even with the slightest temptation. Trying to pull together her inner turmoil, she looked about her.

It was still early in the morning. A very small number of people could be seen up and about getting ready for the start of another hectic day. There were a few merchants with carts loaded with goods talking business deals in hushed tones with the traders. Quite a few stalls were already open with the vendors calling out to the people that passed. It was very different in every way from the ever bustling Konoha that she was used to.

For example the air was undoubtedly unlike the one her lungs were used to. Sakura sniffed in the crispy, fresh air. It was a civilian village and therefore, the air was free of many the pollutions in the air of a shinobi village that she was familiar with. The change in the air was certainly a welcomed one, and closing her eyes, she inhaled a few more times. For some reason, it smelled of fresh jasmines.

And then another smell invaded her nose. Snapping open her eyes, she sniffed the air harder. A moment later she followed the faintly delicious scent that was wafting to her nose and was lead directly to a vendor selling...

'_Dumplings!'_ Sakura exclaimed in delight. She rushed up to the stall, ignoring the disapproving look that a passing old woman threw her.

The man behind the stall was calling out to the passerby while cooking the first batch of dumplings of the day. He was taken aback when the pink haired girl suddenly rushed up to him.

"Uh... welcome young lady. What can I get you this morning?" He asked, his face pulled into a wizened smile.

Sakura looked around to examine the different types of dumplings and ordered as soon as her eyes fell upon the syrup-coated anko dumplings. Smiling at the look of anticipation on the girl's face, the vendor quickly prepared her some.

Sakura dug in as soon as the vendor placed the plate in front of her. It has been a long time since she had had the chance to taste her favorite food. Hell, she was sure that the only flavor that she had had in her mouth was that of ramen in the last few months upon her buoyant teammate's insistence. Smacking her lips and savoring the very sweet taste it left on her lips, Sakura felt satisfied in a way that she had not been in a while. And it had also succeeded in distracting her from her previous dark thoughts.

"Ahhhh!" She licked her lips. She reached out for another but found her plate wiped clean. Broken from her bubble, she realized that she was done. As much as she wanted to order another plate, she recalled her mission a little huffily, and decided it was time to leave.

After making the payment, she rose and turned away only to realize it would be easier if she asked for directions first rather than roaming around the land like a stray. Directions made it much easier and were more efficient in time management. Turning back to the dumpling vendor, she asked politely, "Ano, Oji-san. Could you give me the direction towards the Daimyo's house?"

The man smiled good naturedly before pointing her to the general direction to the north. "It's the huge yellow building. You can't miss it."

Thanking him, Sakura turned away and decided to walk casually instead of sprinting, lest she made the civilians uncomfortable since she figured they were not used to shinobi in the first place.

* * *

An hour later Sakura stood on the threshold of the gigantic yellow building, veins popping out of her forehead as she desperately tried to keep her calm. For the last ten minutes she had been trying to persuade the thick headed guards that she had indeed been summoned by the Daimyo for a mission. But they wouldn't hear a word of it.

"I am telling you the Daimyo requested for me himself. I have the official documents," she said with a slight hint of annoyance to her voice as she struggled to maintain her professionalism.

"Miss, please leave the threshold or else we will be forced to remove you."

Sakura's eyes twitched in extreme annoyance, she would really love to see them try. Biting back her retort, she insisted, "I have the documents," and proceeded to take out the scroll from her small back-pack.

"What is all this commotion about so early in the morning?" A gruff voice sounded. Sakura looked up to see a tall hairy man strolling up to them; undoubtedly the head of security. Before the pestering guards could start talking, Sakura bowed politely as the man came to a halt right before her, looking her over from head to toe warily.

"Kunoichi-san," he nodded at her in acknowledgement, "How can I help you?"

She introduced herself, "I am Haruno Sakura, the Godaime Hokage's apprentice from Konoha. My assistance was requested by your Daimyo."

The man frowned, and said at a length, "We are aware of no such requests."

"Pardon?" Sakura was now lost. What the hell? "I have the mission documents right here with me, if you would kindly take a look."

The pink haired kunoichi presented the scroll to the man whose eyes darted over the document in concentration. At last he closed it and handed it back to her and shook his head, his eyes closed.

"You must have been misinformed. The Daimyo is in perfect condition, there has been no such request for any medic."

Disbelief coursed through her, as she insisted in a voice rather high-pitched, "Excuse me? The details here clearly say otherwise. It even has the seal of your Daimyo. He even specifically asked for my assistance..."

The man cleared his throat and cut her off, "It is all a simple misunderstanding, I presume." He said coolly.

"But take a look at the seal! It's the Daimyo's official seal isn't it?" Sakura exclaimed as she began to feel aggravation creep up into her system.

The man's eyes narrowed and he said in a tone of finality, "Please Haruno-san. We have not made any such requests. You have clearly made a mistake. Pray leave the threshold before we are forced to remove you off it."

Before the words even registered in her head, she found the towering iron doors slam shut on her face as she stood there blinking for a couple of seconds.

'_What the hell?'_ Her inner raged and Sakura herself felt the building desire to tear down some trees to burn the frustration coursing through her.

Deciding that it was not intelligent to linger around the threshold any longer, lest they changed their mind and captured her for interrogating, Sakura quickly moved away until she was in the town centre. Only then she slowed her pace and began thinking about the event that took place moments ago.

She distinctly recalled the memory of Tsunade assigning her to the mission.

* * *

**-Flahback-**

**Sakura entered the cozily furnished Hokage Office, bowing to the blonde who looked up from the never-ending paper work.**

"**Tsunade-shishou," she greeted.**

"**Ah, Sakura," she nodded and shuffled some papers around before picking up a scroll and throwing it at her.**

**Sakura caught it effortlessly and eyed it for a moment. Tsunade explained, "It's a short mission in a civilian village just at the outskirts of Konoha. Apparently the Daimyo is suffering from ill-health and has requested for medical expertise."**

**Nodding in comprehension, the pink haired girl broke the seal and regarded the words, "He has specifically requested for me?" She couldn't help but be surprised. **

**Tsunade nodded, a smirk appearing on her painted lips, "Sakura, you give yourself far less credit than you deserve. You will notice that you have become quite the popular figure in the medical field these recent years."**

**Sakura bit her lips and smiled in appreciation, "All because of you, shishou."**

**Tsunade waved her hand dismissively, "Don't be ridiculous. You are a very talented kunoichi, I'm only glad to have found you."**

**Tsunade didn't have to tell her the importance of medics in the world where danger lurked at every corner. She just smiled and said, "Whatever you say, shishou."**

**Shuffling a few more papers, Tsunade said, "So you leave tonight and can be expected to arrive there by early tomorrow morning as the distance is not very stretched. This is a solo mission since the risks are very limited, nothing that you can't take care of, of course. However, you are to return as quickly as possible since your support in the hospital is crucial. Understood?"**

**Sakura nodded, "Hai."**

**She was just about to turn away when Tsunade called her, "Oh. And Sakura, I have arranged a delegation for a very rare herb. An acquaintance of mine, Junko, will be there will the package. She has been directed to expect you at the village center at noon of the day of your arrival. Please bring them back safely."**

"**Hai."**

"**And Sakura?" The pink haired woman looked at her mentor's features softened, "Be safe."**

**She smiled at her mentor and assured her, "I'll be fine, shishou."**

**The Godaime Hokage only sighed, "I hope so."**

**-End of Flashback-**

* * *

So why on earth would the guards lie to her and deny her entrance? What did they have to prove by summoning her all these way only to slam the door on her face? They had claimed that the Daimyo was not sick at all, and they had definitely not requested her presence... And that she has been misinformed... But Sakura was as sure as hell the document was authentic; it had the Daimyo's personal seal on it as proof! So why the hell would the guards insist otherwise?

Sakura's eyes widened, _'Of course!'_

Unless, indeed the information has been tampered with! Now that Sakura thought about it, it did seem a little funny that the Daimyo living in a secluded civilian village would have heard of her and request for her specifically. Something smelled fishy.

Well, at least they could have assisted her in finding more about this 'misinformation'. Surely it bothered them to see that someone had access to their official seal? Unless...

'_...they too had a hand in it.'_ Her eyes narrowed at the prospect and she felt the sudden urge to knock down their doors which they had so rudely closed on her face and demand to know what exactly was going on.

She heaved a dark sigh, and took a few breathes to calm herself. Their uncooperative behavior could probably be explained by their distrust of shinobi in general. She had noticed how obviously wary the gate sentries were of her and how reluctant they had been to let her enter their territory.

So what exactly was going on here?

Sakura had just decided on sending a note back to Konoha immediately informing the Hokage of the circumstances, when she felt a presence behind her. Startled, she quickly whirled around, only to find a wispy elderly woman staring at her, giving her a calculating gaze.

'_What's with her?'_ She frowned, feeling highly uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the old woman's eyes.

'_Perhaps this is the 'Junko' Tsunade was telling about,'_ her Inner suggested and suddenly it struck to her as the most reasonable explanation. She agreed rather crabbily with her inner, not impressed that she hadn't thought of it before her Inner.

"Junko-san?" Sakura asked uncertainly. The woman snapped her eyes back to meet her gaze and after sometime had passed, she nodded curtly.

Sakura sighed in relief. At least not the whole mission was a ruse. Smiling politely at the woman she introduced herself, "I am Haruno Sakura, Tsunade shishou's apprentice."

The woman only nodded. Sakura looked her over for any signs of the package, but found none. She asked then, "Uh... Junko-san, do you have everything shishou requested for?"

Junko didn't say anything as she abruptly whirled around and began walking, motioning her to follow her. Sakura noticed that the woman's movements were a bit agile for a woman of her age. She must have been a kunoichi, she thought, and didn't bother to pay much heed to it.

They had been walking for quite some time now and it wasn't until Junko had led her away from the town center and into the forest that Sakura began to fidget. Glancing around the thick foliage, Sakura called out nervously, "Uh, Junko-san? Where exactly are we going?"

The woman made no reply.

Biting back her impatience at the woman's conduct and her lack of vocalizations, Sakura continued trailing after her while thinking of sending a message back to Konoha at the first chance she found. She wondered when the chance would present itself...

"Junko-san, how much further do we need to go?" This time Sakura couldn't help the impatience that seeped into her voice. The woman probably noted it too, because she suddenly came to a halt making Sakura bump right into her.

"Ano, gomen," she apologized to the elderly woman, rubbing her head sheepishly. But the woman made no move and instead, spoke for the first time.

"I see you are becoming impatient, kunoichi." There was an icy edge to the old woman's voice that, Sakura noted, sounded very wrong. She tensed visibly, her mind was sent racing.

"Well then, I will get to down to business."

Heart pounding wildly, Sakura's tried to push back the uncertainty working up to her mind as she tried to focus on the situation in hand. Before Sakura could take a step back in apprehension, she suddenly found herself pressed against something hard, with a huge sword pushed under her delicate throat. She resisted the urge to gulp, in fear that the slight movement could result to her neck being slit, as blood rushed to her pounding heart.

"Are you sure she is the one?" The presence behind her asked Junko who merely nodded affirmatively. Her captor sniggered and didn't sound at all convinced; whatever he had meant by it.

"Who are you?" She glared at the woman posed as 'Junko' who had finally turned around and was staring at her just as intensely.

"Impatient are we, Pinky?" The man behind her chuckled but Sakura could hardly find anything funny about all these, all the while trying to discern anything that would give her a hint of who these people were, and more importantly, what exactly was going on...

'_Trouble, that's what!'_ Her Inner snapped in frustration.

She growled both at the intended nickname and her Inner, but only glared at her restraints, "I asked, who are you?"

There was a pause and then the man pressing the sword against her throat chuckled darkly as 'Junko' raised her finger to perform a simple seal and let her appearance falter. Sakura could only suck in a gasp. Because of all the things that she had expected, she never expected an Akatsuki to be standing there, eyeing her impassively; much less Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

**A/N:** I have this story all planned out in my head but have no idea how it will actually turn out, mostly because I tend to be hit by writer's block in the worst possible moments. But with a bit of luck, I'll be able to finish the story because I've already typed out the majority of the chapters beforehand. I know how frustrating it feels to not have a story finished- both as an author and a reader.

I will stop here. If you can please do leave a review. Thanks.

**A Little Birdie Tells Me.**


	2. Fight and Flight

**DISCLAIMER: **I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only and without any intention of infringing upon any copyright. Thanks.

* * *

**Desires of the Heart: Confliction**

_Chapter II: Fight & Flight_

* * *

"Akatsuki," she grounded out in disgust as silent horror swept over her. That must mean that the one trapping her was none other than Hoshigaki Kisame of the Seven Swordsmen of Mist.

'_We're so dead,'_ her Inner chimed in but she ignored it. She didn't have to hear from Inner what she already knew.

The Uchiha took a few steps forward, his steps slow and sure. Everything fell into a lapse of silence as a bone-chilling breeze picked up around them. His darks locks blew against his pale cheeks as he continued walking towards her.

As he came nearer, she could see his blank face that peered at hers from just above that wide high collar. There was only coldness in his gaze, like he was contemplating how easy it would be to kill rather than wasting time in a pointless fight. There'd been many a times she had felt fear, many a times she had bit it back, but this was just too much. He just looked at her, cold, impassive, blank, his pinwheel eyes seeming to bore into her very soul. She found herself unable to look away.

Sakura was more than surprised that she wasn't dead on her feet yet, or worse, that she hadn't been pulled into the dark abyss of the Mangekyou. She tore off her gaze from his alluring ones and struggled to keep her eyes glued to the collar of his cloak instead. She wasn't ignorant of the wonders of the Sharringan, much less the one as dangerous as the one Itachi possessed.

Vaguely, a part of her wondered if it was them who had tampered with the mission information. The mere thought alarmed her. The compulsion to ask him was playing in her thoughts, but the sword pressed to her neck so tightly made her resist. Kisame's large hand was clamped on the back of her neck as the cold steel covered under the white bindings were pushed further up across the plane of her throat.

At length she made up her mind. She was dead either way; she had to get as much information as she could and find some way to send word to Konoha. So she gathered every ounce of courage within her, praying to Kami that this was all just some kind of a bad dream. When she opened her mouth, she could barely recognize her own voice, "Where is the _real_ Junko-san?"

"She has not been harmed, you need not be worried," Itachi's voice was as monotonous as she had imagined it to be.

It barely said of the old lady's fate, but Sakura bit her lips from asking any further, not wishing to push her luck. She was hanging on a thread as it was. Besides, the Akatsuki didn't have any reason to lie about the safety of an old woman; if they had disposed of her, they would have just as coldly informed her of it.

So she asked the next important thing, trying desperately to keep her voice from trembling like her insides were, "What do you want from me?"

Sakura could see by the movement of his chin, that Itachi had cocked his head, "Would you make it any easier if we made our motives clear to you?" He sounded...

'_Amused?'_ She thought incredulously to which Inner agreed without hesitation.

Sakura shook the ridiculous notion of Itachi being amused out of her head; she doubted he was capable of such a feat that would define him as something close to human.

Sakura could already guess what they could want from her. They were in charge of capturing the Kyuubi; they merely wanted to take her hostage in hopes of luring out Naruto, which would definitely succeed if Sakura knew the first thing about Naruto. Thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. For what else could you be good enough, right?

Or, it occurred to her, that they had simply stumbled upon her and thought her to be a good kill. She was more disgusted than terrified at the thought.

'_This is all your fault.'_ Inner Sakura suddenly had the nerve to accuse her.

She willed herself to keep a cool head, deciding that panicking would not get her anywhere. But it was a lot easier said than done. Sakura agreed to her Inner's accusation and cursed herself for being careless enough to get in this situation in the first place.

She should have just run back to Konoha as fast as she could, with her tail between her legs, as soon as the Daimyo had slammed the door on her face. She should have connected the lines and saw through this trick. Hell, you would have thought that she would have learned not to trust strangers by now!

Eyeing a spot on the elder Uchiha's cloak, she knew very well that she had no chance of involving them in combat; much less sport the idea of winning. Her only option was escaping as soon and as swiftly as possible. Which was also easier said than done.

She tried to concentrate more on ways to get out of Kisame's death grip rather than letting her attention get caught by the way Itachi's lips were pressed in a single impassive line that could pass for his mouth, for, now her eyes were drawn to his lips.

Slapping herself mentally, she focused on her plan to escape, careful to wipe her face off any indication to her treacherous thoughts. Sakura considered kicking out, but it would be a blind hit, and if the shark-man detected as much as even a twitch of muscle, she had no doubt that he would gladly shred her into pieces. So she forced herself to stand still, and for a few moments, the only sounds in the clearing were a distant chirping of bird, and the easily audible pounding of her heart.

She considered drawing chakra to her hands and pushing away the huge sword pressed against her, realizing that she would need as much strength her chakra enhanced fists could muster to overcome the shark man's overwhelming muscle power, not to mention the sheer magnitude of the blade as well. That would drain her chakra reserve considerably, and then there was the chase that Kisame and Itachi was sure to give.

'_Tell me you aren't serious! Do you really think that you'll be able to outrun them?'_ Inner shrieked indignantly.

Sakura knew Inner was right. Surely their speed was impossible to beat for an average shinobi like her. But she had to give it a try.

'_We'll never know if we don't give it a try, right?'_ She told herself bitterly.

'_And risk dying?'_ Inner sounded panicking and it was her cue to tune it out, lest she got distracted by her conflicting thoughts.

Sakura closed her eyes, trying to even out her wildly fluttering heart so that she could focus on her escape plan rather than cower in fright, before this already terrible situation could get any _worse._ She decided that she would never get out this if she didn't give it a try. She couldn't afford to be indecisive now of all times. She had to give it a try, and pray to all the Gods who would listen, that it worked somehow.

Swallowing the bad taste in her mouth, she reached for her chakra as discreetly as she could muster, and to her shock she could only find a temperate amount, not the full reserve that she had cared to maintain for her supposed healing assignment. She was alarmed; without her chakra she pretty much didn't stand any chance against any regular rouge, and this was Akatsuki she was dealing with for Kami's sake!

Kisame said, understanding her intention easily, "Surprise, surprise, Pinky."

She could _hear_ the smirk in his voice. _'He bloody drained my chakra!'_

Sakura shrieked in indignation, and used all her strength to do the one thing she could think of right then- step on his foot- never imagining in her wildest dream that it would _actually_ work. With a thunderous cracking sound, the ground too broke apart under their feet from the brute force of her kick, splattering them with dirt as Kisame was forced to move away from her.

She could only blink as Kisame cursed her with passion, wriggling his stinging foot. He glared at her. Not wasting the chance, as weird as it was, Sakura immediately moved further out of his reach.

"You little devil," Kisame watched her through narrowed eyes, "I'll get you for that."

She wanted to turn around and run as fast as she could and never look back, but thought that it was probably not very wise at the moment. It would evoke Itachi, who she noted out of the corners of her eyes, had made no move to interfere, to pursuit her as well as Kisame. She knew for sure that she couldn't even outrun one of them, let alone both of them. She needed to incapacitate Kisame first, or at least needed to create a highly effective diversion, long enough to let her slip past.

Besides, for the time being Itachi looked content to stand aside and watch the battle that unfolded between Kisame and her; which was mostly verbal given Kisame's state. She was thankful, because one Akatsuki on her plate was too much on her plate right now, and she didn't need to add an Uchiha Itachi to it too.

Cursing her loudly and fortunately drawing her attention to him, Kisame took a good grip on his gigantic sword and made a mad dash at her. Sakura barely had the time to swing her head backwards as the sword slashed through the air where her head been a moment ago, before Kisame caught himself from the momentum of the swing and was quick enough to landed a punch on her stomach before she could even straighten up. Sakura was sent flying, bended into double in pain, but halfway airborne she disappeared with a poof.

"Shannaro!"

Sakura broke out from beneath the ground where she had hidden herself in the brief moment of distraction, aiming a punch on his face, only to be dodged as he vanished from her line of sight altogether.

Sakura panicked for a slight moment as she caught herself from the momentum of the punch and then realized that he would most definitely be coming at her from...

'_BEHIND YOU!'_ Inner yelled.

She whirled around just in time to duck from his huge fist that would have knocked her out cold should it have landed its mark.

Before Kisame could recover from the momentum of his failed punch, Sakura crouched low and used her feet to make a sweeping kick at him. But Kisame bent low and caught her ankle and twisted it making her yelp in pain. As Kisame smirked in crude satisfaction, Sakura, despite the throbbing pain on her ankle that was still caught in Kisame's monstrous grip, bent her knee to get closer to him and was successful in landing a chakra enhanced punch on the face of the disheveled Mist-nin making him let go of his grip on her ankle as he flew across the clearing and crashed into a tree.

Dropping on the ground she quickly charged her chakra laden hand through her ankle, relieving it off its pain, but the skin remained purple. Hurriedly she wasted no time to look up at the scene before her. The smoke had dispersed to reveal an uprooted tree, but Kisame had disappeared.

A whistle of the wind was all she heard before the enormous blade came from her right, aiming to undoubtedly behead her. Using a thick sheet of chakra to cover her hands as a form of protective gloves, she caught the blade in her palm, satisfied to see that it protected her hand from getting sliced.

However, it looked like her chakra was draining, fast, and it wouldn't take long for the sword to successfully slice off her hands. Narrowing her eyes at the sly look that Kisame flashed her, she pumped another round of chakra to her palms, and using all the strength left in her limbs, yanked the sword forward towards her.

Now normally of course, someone as bulky as Kisame wouldn't have even moved an inch by the likes of a pull from a petite girl like Sakura. But because of the carefully utilized chakra work and the Tsunade-inherited-monstrous-strength, the sword was yanked forward just a little bit with relative ease along with its master's hand, and that little moment of waver was all Sakura needed to execute a sharp chakra spike in Kisame's wrist. In the blink of an eye, Kisame's hand went limp, and his sword went clanging down on the ground as she kicked the ground to pull back and put a safe distance between them.

Sakura just had a second to register Kisame's bewildered expression with a deep satisfaction rising to her heart, before her sixth sense prickled and her eyes widened as Itachi flickered within her sight, standing between her and Kisame.

She sent a barrage of poisoned senbon at Itachi, which she didn't even have to turn around to know that he had dodged without even blinking once of course. Kisame, too, seemed to be able enough to move away.

She took the opportunity to make a desperate, pulse-pounding, maddened dash due west. She couldn't remember the last time she moved so fast, her adrenaline pumping through her veins as she sprinted across the forest. Itachi didn't show any sign to move away from where he stood in front of Kisame's hunched over body. But she didn't pause on his account; taking it as a chance to get the hell away from there in any way that she could.

It was a suicidal exploit, she knew. But she had no intention of letting herself fall into the hands of the Akatsuki for them to do with her whatever hell they wanted her for.

She ran through the thick foliage blindly as fast as her legs would carry her, not caring where she went as long as it meant she got as far away from _there _as possible_._ She didn't dare to take a look behind her to see if anyone was following; she didn't have to see it to _know_ that he was following her. She dismissed the thought of hiding, with the Sharringan and his prodigious brain it would take him no time to find her. Her only chance was fleeing- and that too, was as slim as it could possibly get.

The thick green forest seemed all the same to her eyes and it suddenly occurred to her that she could be running in circles.

'_Genjutsu?!' _

She realized with a jolt that genjutsu was Itachi's specialty. She skidded to a halt and made the seals and waited for the genjutsu to falter. The landscape didn't dissolve away, but the lights seemed to dull a bit by the corners, which Sakura took a sign that the illusion had been cancelled.

As the faint trickles of chakra that had been lingering around the place as it held the illusion in place faded away into nothing, she wondered how on earth she had missed the chakra flow, an obvious indication of the genjutsu. How long had she been trapped under it?

'_Did the fight with Kisame even really happen?'_

Her heart beating frantically in her chest, she spread out her senses warily, feeling for the presence of anyone besides herself... For a long moment she held her breathe, but probing once, twice, thrice, she still found nothing.

'_Are they gone then?_' Inner asked, just as breathlessly as she was. Had they decided to give up for good? Sakura earnestly hoped so. For all she knew, they could be lurking in the shadows for the perfect opportunity... She shuddered involuntarily.

Enthusiastic about putting as much distance as she could between them, she decided to move further away from the reaches of the Uchiha and his aquatic partner. She reached for her chakra reserve and to her horror found a diminishing flicker of energy, just enough to keep her from passing out. Sighing, she decided to cloak whatever poor excuse of chakra she had left in her, just to be careful, and then kept an even pace as she ran across the forest floor.

After a while, predictably enough she began to feel the effects of the toll the battle had taken on her and it was becoming quite difficult to keep her eyes open. The spot on her ankle where Kisame had twisted didn't hurt like hell, but it still hurt and was easily becoming a hindrance.

Looking down at it, she flinched. It had taken the shade of a nasty bluish purple too. Deciding that it was better to treat the wound before it got more troublesome and required more chakra, she bent over, her hand glowing faintly.

She let the chakra die out in her hand and sighed in content, eyeing the patch of the normal looking skin on her previously purple ankle satisfactorily. She wiggled her toes and twisted her ankle lightly, satisfied that it didn't hurt in any way. She straightened up and cast a cautious look to her right and left. Pursing her lips, she took a few taxing steps forward.

There was the slightest flicker of movement in front of her, and Sakura immediately skidded to a halt, unearthed her last kunai, and threw it at the disturbance, praying for accuracy. Sakura never knew when Itachi swiftly crept behind her from the shadows, until he decided to let his chakra flare, giving her a heart attack.

And for the second time that night, Sakura broke out in a run at a break-neck speed that she never knew she was capable of. The foliage was much thicker in this area of the forest, and soon she tripped over a cluster of vine. She didn't notice the rather nasty scrap on her knee as she jumped up to her feet and continued limping, this time looking back and forth desperately. Never in her life had she felt this much like a hunted animal.

She felt Itachi's rapid approach, but her legs seemed to have fallen asleep, and disregarded any command that her mind sent its way.

'_Move! Move! MOVE!'_ She snarled.

Nothing happened as she stood there frozen to the ground.

"If you wish to live I highly suggest that you don't make another move," Sakura didn't think she would ever grow used to the coldness of his voice.

Despite her best efforts, her breaths came fast and shallow as she walked backward now, keeping her eyes trained in front of her where the Uchiha would approach from any second. Her shoulders shook, and for a moment, she wildly considered stopping this desperate attempt to escape-

"I thought I said not to make any movement."

His breathe was warm and dangerous against her ear. Panicking, she jumped around to send the last of her chakra into a punch aimed at his jaw, which in all her alarm, was so far off the actual mark that it wasn't even necessary for him to dodge it. Sakura's eyes widened with horror as she realized that she had missed.

Itachi's pale arm shot out of the shrouds of his Akatsuki cloak and with lightning fast movements, his grip was secured around her wrist. The heat from his touch was shocking to her nerves as she had expected nothing less of icy cold grip. And as fast as expected from him, he shoved her around so that her back was pressed to his front, her hands captivated in his larger ones behind her back painfully.

She gasped, the tip of his kunai resting on the delicate skin of her neck but not enough to draw blood. She resisted the strong urge to swallow down her fear. It seemed like an eternity, the few seconds that passed between them, all the while Sakura's life began to flash before her eyes.

"Wh-What do you wa-want?" Her lips barely moved.

Itachi didn't dignify her with an answer.

Suddenly something inside her snapped and she forgot all the previous notions of staying still in the Uchiha's grip and hope that he doesn't slit her throat. She struggled against his firm grip and in the process felt the sharp prick of his kunai, "I will NOT be used as some kind of-"

She didn't get the chance to finish.

The next thing she knew was that she was being jerked around to meet the Uchiha's face, still unreadable, but for a moment his hand loosened. And surprised by his sudden movement, she made the one fatal mistake of taking a look into his eyes... The result was instantaneous as she felt herself being sucked into his spinning blood red eyes and felt her knee buckle as she stumbled upon Itachi in the loss of her balance.

At the verge of unconsciousness, Sakura subconsciously made the last attempt her diminished chakra would allow. Extending the dregs of her healing chakra from her fingertips, she plunged the scalpel towards him. As expected of him, he moved out of the way swiftly, but a second too late. Sakura watched her scalpel pierce into black robes and cut through the tendons of his right hand before the green concentration of energy flickered out of existence.

If it hurt, he didn't show it as his face remained carefully blank. But Sakura's experience in the medic field was long enough to have taught her the pain that a scalpel can inflict if intended as a weapon.

The triumph of hitting him was the last thought her head could conjure among the overwhelming pain that hit her brain in waves, and then darkness overcame her, leaving her entirely in the mercy of Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

_To be continued..._

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**A/N: **This chapter was wholly all about the fight that Sakura put up. And honestly speaking, I am not very good with writing combat scenes, as you can judge for yourselves. But I would definitely like to improve it since it would be crucial in some point in the future of this story where more combat awaits us. So if you people have any feedback, I'm all ears.

**A Little Birdie Tells Me.**


	3. The Proposition

**DISCLAIMER: **I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only and without any intention of infringing upon any copyright. Thanks.

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**Desires of the Heart: Confliction**

_Chapter III: The Proposition_

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_Crash!_

The noise reverberated throughout her head, making her stir. She flinched as soon as she came back to her senses. Her head throbbed with a dull pain; making her want to clutch her forehead until the pain stopped hitting her in such sharp waves.

"Tobi! Look where you are going, yeah!" Someone snarled and there was a loud smacking sound.

"Ouch! What was that for, senpai?" A childish whimper sounded from very close to her.

Everything sounded unfamiliar. Memories of the recent events flowed into her mind.

'_Akatsuki_.'

Sakura didn't dare open her eyes or make any kind of movement. She held her breath in.

"You better breathe in a lungful of air before your face turns blue like Fish-face, kunoichi, yeah," someone was telling, "And Tobi, you idiot, keep away from my art!"

Sakura stiffened as she realized that the first part of the phrase had been addressed to her, and decided to take the unknown person's advice and let out the breath that she was holding in. Chiding herself for getting caught so easily, she snapped open her eyes.

There was a man in an orange mask with swirling patterns peering down at her, blocking the light out of her eyes and so making it easier for her heavy eyes to adjust to the surroundings. She blinked up at the guy for a long time.

The mask had only one eye-hole and she saw his clear, dark eye widen for a fraction before it crinkled to a smiling one as he began clapping ridiculously, "She is awake! She is awaaaa-" He never anticipated the fist that came to meet his face.

_CRASH!_

There was a moment of silence while Sakura did a quick check over her body for any kind of bruises and found none, but she noted the obvious absence of her chakra. Maybe that's why she felt so exhausted to the bone.

There was a cackle from the far end of the room and her eyes instantly snapped up towards the noise and she had to bite back a cry of surprise.

"So that's what Kisame got the bruise from," the blonde was saying in between his guffaw, and nodded at her in, what Sakura could only deduce as approval, "I gotta hand it to you, yeah."

Sakura recognized the blond man as Deidara of the Akatsuki from a file she read about Akatsuki. He was not wearing his Akatsuki cloak, making it hard for her to actually believe that the laughing and easy-going man could ever be as dangerous as his name suggested. And he looked very young too.

The air settled as Tobi sat up groaning in pain. He was not clutching his head which seemed to have taken most of the injury where a huge, red bump poked out. He was instead covering his face with his hands. Chips of orange could be seen falling off his face. He whimpered.

Before she could think anything else, the paper door at the far end of the room slid open noiselessly, letting in a flitting ray of bright yellow light into the gloomily lit room. Her mind instantly replayed how she came to be here.

Managing to stand up from where she had been sitting, Sakura bit her lip as her eyes fell on the figure at the other side of the room. The tall ninja stood there at the door, unmoving. His gray-blue epidermis was tinged a muted skin tone in the dim orange glow of the lamp fire. Sakura could see the bruise taking a repulsive purple color on the side of his cheeks where she had landed her punch earlier. His limb also looked awkwardly stuffed in the sleeves of his Akatsuki robes. Sakura suppressed the smirk tugging on her lips.

'_So I did fight him after all, it wasn't a part of the genjutsu.'_ Inner sniggered along with her.

His black soulless eyes watched her every movement and that same dark smile was on his mouth as if it was still there from the last moment she looked at him. Sakura could see the shark man's sickly sadistic grin bending the gray flesh around his mouth.

"I have been waiting for you to come around, Pinky." The sword strapped to his back made a grilling sound, startling her. Sakura wondered if he was planning of taking some kind of dreadful revenge on her for the punch and the hand.

'_Oh, let him come, we'll take him on.'_ Inner flipped her hair haughtily, '_There will be more from where that punch came from.'_

Sakura raised a brow at her other persona, _'"We?"'_

That shut her Inner up, leaving her free to concentrate on the more pressing situation at hand. Her eyes followed Kisame's every movement warily as he came to stand in the middle of the room, prepared in case he lashed out. But he merely stood there surveying the part of the room which lay in a rubble.

"What happened here?" He eyed the frantic Tobi who was now trying to piece together his broken mask and directed his question at Deidara whose laughing fit had at last resided.

Deidara chuckled, "Pinky here is a fighter, yeah," he explained and took a look back at her with his sole gleaming eyes. Sakura couldn't place the look that he gave her. But knowing him it couldn't be far off from blood thirst, she shuddered.

A wide smirk spread across Kisame's blue tinged lips, he spared her a sweeping look, "We will have to see about that soon."

It made blood rush to her head in anticipation of what was coming. For the first time since waking up Sakura let the fear that had been threatening to seep in from the very beginning come crashing on her. The fear she felt creeping up her veins, to her heart and her brain, was very different than the panic that she had felt earlier in the forest. It was much more intense, and she hoped that the others didn't notice the tremor that passed over her. What has she gotten herself into?

Everything about the fake mission and the Junko clicked into her mind; she needed to inform Konoha about this as soon as possible. But seeing where she was now, she doubted she would ever get the chance. She distinctly wondered how she was even alive...

"What do you want from me?" She asked, eyeing the two men in as much contempt as her fearful heart would allow.

"Yeah, man. From when does Uchiha force himself on women, yeah?" This earned Deidara a glare from the said Uchiha's faithful partner. Sakura's lips quirked upwards, and she would have laughed then if the situation at hand hadn't been so dire.

"Shut up if you know what is best for you," Kisame murmured, withdrawing to one corner of the room to lean against the still intact wall.

Deidara seemed to color a little but decided to say nothing more on the matter. He called at Tobi, "Oi, get yourself together. We are leaving, yeah."

Sakura glanced down at Tobi who was still bended over his mask trying to fix it. He complained, "Bu-But senpai! It won't stick!"

Despite herself, she raised a brow, was this truly an Akatsuki member, dangerous as the word itself? She couldn't believe it; if anything, Tobi seemed like a child trapped in a body older than his. Surely he couldn't be up to the malevolence that requires of an Akatsuki...

"Kunoichi."

Sakura stiffened hearing the cold, quiet voice. Her mind whirled and her eyes snapped back at the doorway. There stood Uchiha Itachi, his red eyes spinning as he regarded her, his face cleared in a blank slate. How long he had been standing there she couldn't tell because she hadn't heard him coming to stand there.

Sakura was startled to find herself looking into his eyes and instantly removed her gaze, choosing instead to look at the high collar of his dark robe that reached his chin. She remembered the last time she had peered into those pair of haunting orbs.

'_And look where it has gotten me,'_ She grumbled.

'_Not true,'_ her Inner decided to drawl out now of all times, much to Sakura's irritation, _'You know you wouldn't have stood a chance even if you hadn't taken a peek.'_

'_Shut it,'_ Sakura growled, unleashing the frustration that she felt creeping up to her on her Inner, _'I'd like to tell myself that this is entirely his fault.'_

If she had felt frightened when Kisame had entered, she didn't know what to feel now. She tried to keep herself calm, but whatever inner tumult her face could hide with difficulty, she knew that her emerald eyes betrayed it all. She cursed herself for being so poor at controlling her emotions. How did she even make it this far in this treacherous world?

In an attempt to keep her eyes anywhere but on his eyes, Sakura's eyes ventured down to his right arm. It was where she had used her scalpel and succeeded in piercing through his muscles, hopefully she even had severed more than enough nerves to render it useless. The thought brought a little quirk on her lips, despite the situation of life and death she was faced with right then. It was just the fact that it wasn't everyday that someone could take Uchiha Itachi off guard.

She would have liked to push up his sleeves and examine his hand to see the effect she had left with her own eyes, rather than _knowing_ that it had affected him. But his arms were hidden within the shrouds of his dark cloak.

'_And I can't just ask for a peek now, can I?'_ She said to herself scathingly.

Closing her eyes, she just let herself bath in the triumph of knowing that she had caught him. And being a medic she knew that it must hurt like hell. Then with a grimace she realized that even if she had indeed hurt him, he showed no indication of any pain. This made Sakura groan mentally as she realized he may not even have considered the blow as much as a scratch.

Itachi, probably noticing how her eyes lingered over his arm, lightly cleared his throat to bring her attention back to him.

"Uchiha-san," she replied quietly, nodding at him, again fixing her eyes anywhere than his lethal eyes.

"Kunoichi, do you know why you were brought here?" He drawled out in his impassive tone.

The words flew out of her mouth even before they even registered in her own mind, "You mean kidnapped?"

There was a pause while Sakura's eyes widened in the horror as the weight of her own words sunk in. She cursed herself for being such a fool. You don't just go offending people as dangerous as them! If she was wondering so long why she was kept alive, now she would surely be killed and relieved of such thoughts.

Then Deidara chortled, making Sakura wonder if she should sigh in somewhat relief or say her last prayers all the same. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Kisame's beady eyes shifting from her to his stoic partner, a hidden amusement shining in them.

"Hn."

Sakura's eyes flinched as she realized how much Itachi sounded like his younger brother right then. Immediately she struggled to push back the pang that hit her chest. She unconsciously clutched at her heart.

"Is something the matter, Pinky?" Kisame mocked her, because there was no way she would believe him to be capable of being concerned about someone's well being. She managed to glare back at him which only made him arch a brow.

Her eyes went back to meet Itachi's Sharringan; for a moment she was not scared of its wrath as she felt anger building up inside her, not for kidnapping her but rather for sounding so much like his younger brother and in turn arousing the uncertain emotions within her which she had struggled to lock up for so long, she realized with a jolt.

He didn't use his eyes on her.

Emerald eyes narrowing she hissed, "Since I'm not dead yet, I'm guessing you require something from me. And since you did the honor of kidnapping me, why don't you do the honor of enlightening me as well?"

The silence that followed was overwhelming. The air around them seemed to have tightened. Something was escalating; she could feel it. Maybe it was Itachi's power because the room seemed filled with his presence; filled with some sort of prickling energy that scared her poor heart even more.

But Sakura didn't dare break the eye contact with the Uchiha. She knew for sure that she had blown it this time. Even if there was only a slight chance of him disposing of her at the earlier comment, there would be none to save her from his wrath now. But she found herself not caring, instead she felt a strange sense of satisfaction for being able to mock Uchiha Itachi and live the next second to feel the fulfilling sensation.

The rest of the Akatsuki seemed to be holding their breath too, watching the two of them, unblinking. It looked like even they were sure of her fate and were only waiting for the blow to make contact. She herself waited for the dojutsu to pull her into the world of eternal pain... Unknowingly she closed her eyes in anticipation and saw her whole life flash in front of her like earlier in the forest.

But nothing of the sorts happened. Sakura's eyes cracked open as she blinked stupidly for a few seconds.

"Manners, kunoichi." Was all Itachi chose to say, much to her amazement. Sakura took a fleeting look at Kisame out of the corner of her eyes who was just as bewildered as her.

Sighing, she knew she had better listen to Itachi's direction, lest she wanted to be killed right there. Perhaps there was still a chance to... negotiate her way out? Perhaps rescue teams were already being sent out in search for her? She didn't dare hope.

Then she asked something that had been bothering her ever since she was driven out of the Daimyo's household, "Did Akatsuki have anything to do with the false mission requesting me?" She knew the answer even before it came, but she wanted to make sure that her assumption was wholly correct.

"We are not obliged to answer your queries," Itachi said in his monotonous voice.

"Nevertheless, it's a pretty harmless query," she added, "It would be better for me to know the whole situation if I wanted to think clearly, rather than making assumptions."

She seemed to have a point as the Uchiha replied smoothly, "The mission was false, devised in the fashion to lure you out."

"That would explain the specific request for me," she muttered under her breath.

'_But why though?'_ No matter how much she thought about it she couldn't find any other reason for them to go through all these trouble other than to secure her as a hostage for using as a bargaining chip against Naruto. It was the very likely reason. Of what other use can she be of?

Shaking her head she asked the next question, "And what about Junko-san?"

The elder Uchiha cocked his head, "What about her?"

"Is she unharmed?" She asked, dreading that the way Itachi had stalled her question would bring some unwanted answer.

"I was under the impression that I had already answered that question, kunoichi," he answered smoothly in his deep, firm voice. Sakura sighed in relief because the last time she had asked of the old woman's fate the results had not been alarming.

Nodding solemnly, she moved to the next question, which had been bugging her for some time now, "Have you sent a message to Naruto yet? Of my capture?"

This time Kisame downright laughed and exclaimed, "Pinky you are one of a kind, really!" But it didn't strike to her as anything amusing and in fact it was quite repulsive coming from one such as him.

"Thank you," she said, her voice laced heavily with sarcasm as Kisame laughed more despite the obvious offense, and even Deidara was chuckling to himself quietly. Sakura turned instead towards Itachi expectantly.

He seemed to be smirking, another trait that seemed to link him to his resemblance with his younger brother. As she saw a familiar look cross his lips, she tried to stop her mind wandering to the dark thoughts regarding the younger Uchiha; now was not the time. It had been a long time since she had seen that same Uchiha smirk on the other man's mouth, but it seemed like it had been another time, another life away.

"You assume we have captured you to lure out the Kyuubi," he remarked, his smirk still in place, "I thought you had made it clear that none of us wanted to work on meager assumptions."

Sakura could only blink at him stupidly, "Huh?"

Then everything clicked into her mind. So they were saying that their motives were... different from capturing Kyuubi? Should she be stupid enough to believe their words? And what would Itachi ever gain from lying to her?

Out of the corner of her eyes she observed the other three Akatsuki. Deidara and Tobi seemed oblivious to this whole thing. Perhaps they had no hand in it, Tobi seemed clueless enough to convince her of their detachment. Kisame on the other hand, definitely played a part in it. And what would _he_ gain from lying to her about their motives?

Right. Simply nothing.

Sucking in a deep breath she outright demanded, crossing her hands over her chest and narrowing her eyes at them, rather the elder Uchiha, "Then what exactly do you have in mind?"

Kisame smiled at her, a matter of revulsion to her, and for one crazy moment Sakura panicked when the thought crossed her mind that he would reply saying that they had brought her just for the kill of it. But no, Kisame just smacked his lips much to Sakura's distaste and asked, "Impatient much? Well then, let's get down to business."

"Kunoichi," Itachi had her attention again by just one word. Sakura took in a deep breath, preparing herself for the worst, knowing that whatever was going to come out of his mouth was never something that would sound good to her ears.

Itachi seemed to observe her quietly for a moment before dropping the bomb, "It has been noted that Akatsuki is in need of the skills of a medic."

Deidara and Tobi seemed as astonished as herself. On second thought Sakura noticed that it was true that she had never come across the knowledge of any Akatsuki members having the skills of a med-nin.

'_Not that they needed it.'_ She snorted.

Deidara and Kisame raised a brow each, at her. She just bit her lips. So they had basically said that they wanted her to join as Akatsuki's med-nin. Not happening. Did they think it would actuallywork? She felt... insulted by their thoughtlessness.

"You are asking me to join Akatsuki's post as a med-nin?" She tried to steer clear of the anger that threatened to burst out.

"No," Itachi's answer made her stop short. What the hell? Didn't the man just say so just the last minute? She wanted to pull at her hair. He was truly complicated, she decided.

"What the hell?" She could feel the veins popping out on her forehead, not that it would serve any purpose other than getting her killed sooner than destined.

"A certain situation has aroused requiring the most competent medical attention. Clearly Tsunade-hime was not an option..."

'_And hence me,'_ she completed the sentence in her mind as Inner sniggered. She winced, _'I should have known.'_

"How dare you think I would help the likes of Akatsuki after all you have done?" She didn't try to contain the rage that spilled out then. She looked upon them in contempt, surprisingly making Tobi who had managed to salvage what was left of his mask and put it back on, flinch under her gaze. Deidara and Kisame seemed to be most amused by her outburst.

But Sakura looked forward to Itachi's reaction most, since she figured that her life or death depended very much on it; but he was of course as unreadable as ever. And just when she was beginning to think that he wouldn't lash out, suddenly he disappeared from the line of her sight, making her heart pound erratically.

Instinctively Sakura took a step back only to be pressed against something, or rather someone. She stiffened. Warmth was the last thing that she expected to radiate off him. Biting back a gasp, she stood her place, willing her body to not betray the rolls of fear that washed over her. She tried to contain her heart within her chest.

The tip of his kunai was pressed into her throat, reminding her awfully of the last time in the forest. The warm line of blood slid down her skin as she waited to see if he would respond or end her life. Those few seconds seemed like an eternity before he spoke.

'_Such a foolish gamble, Sakura!'_ She was angrier at herself than anyone. Why, oh why, did she of all people have to be so stupid enough to be outspoken; especially in the presence of international S-class criminals?

"Kunoichi, know your place well."

The words were low and whispered against her ear, making a shiver run along her back. The hair on the back of her head trickled as she held her breath, waiting for the worst. But for the umpteenth time that day, nothing came. But Sakura didn't dare let out the breath that she was holding in. Finally the kunai was withdrawn, but she could feel every bit of him against her back. It didn't promise much to her life.

Sakura would forever be grateful to Deidara who just then took a step forward and broke the unyielding aura that had filled the room in the last minutes.

"Well we will be off now, yeah," Turning to Tobi he motioned him towards the door.

Tobi who had been standing on the rubble and had been silent the whole time, finally seemed to be broken from a trance and said in his high pitched voice, "Bye-bye, kunoichi-san. Tobi had just wanted to see kunoichi-san's hair from a closer view earlier since Tobi has never seen anyone with pink hair."

Sakura felt remorse built up deep within her chest at the innocence in the masked man's voice, but a second later she blinked and checked herself.

'_What the hell am I thinking?'_ She cursed herself for being so soft.

Tobi bowed to her humbly, shocking her. "But Tobi had obviously made kunoichi-san mad. Please forgive Tobi. Tobi meant no harm. Tobi was only curious."

Sakura swallowed at the clarity of the boy's apology. She could only nod in acceptance of his apology. Her hands itched to summon her healing chakra and heal the bump on his head and the limp on his leg which she noticed as soon as he began walking towards the door where Deidara had been putting on his straw hat and Akatsuki cloak, observing the whole exchange.

This time Itachi who was still standing still all this time and about whose presence Sakura had all but forgotten, spoke, "You will heal Kisame and Tobi."

No matter how much her hand itched to heal Tobi, Kisame's name made her remember the company she was now amongst, and brought back her spirit immediately.

"No."

Sakura was sure that by now everyone had assumed that she had a death wish. And died she would have, if not Akatsuki's pressing need for the skills of a medic. She knew from her heart that it was the only reason that kept Itachi from killing her. But she could tell by the way this was going that it wouldn't be long that they would see it fit to dispose of her, seeing that she was proving to be more trouble than worth.

"You will." His voice was firm, leaving no space resistance.

Sakura noticed how he made no mention of the injury she had inflicted upon him earlier or demanded of her to heal him; it proved to her that indeed he hadn't considered the blow even a scratch. She snorted; if Itachi could take a hit from her most formidable jutsu and feel nothing, surely Kisame and Tobi's injury was a child's play. It didn't matter whether they were in pain or not, or that defying Itachi's words meant certain death, Sakura would be damned if she gave in.

"Never."

There was a flash in Itachi's eyes but before he could act upon it, Tobi interrupted, frantically shaking his head, "Tobi is quite fine. Itachi-san need not trouble kunoichi-san about healing Tobi! No! No!"

And Sakura didn't know what made Kisame say it, perhaps it was his ego or perhaps it was just out of pity for her, probably the first since Sakura knew that the shark-man could want nothing but to kill her as painfully as possible. "I will be damned if I let that vixen touch me anytime soon."

Sakura was stupid enough to comment, "A wise decision Kisame-san," making Kisame laugh out loud. She seemed to make him do that a lot. Besides, she had merely used a numbing technique on Kisame's hand, nothing lethal. His senses would be coming around in a while as soon as the jutsu dispels. She could see one of his fingers already beginning to twitch.

'_And as to his cheek that has gone a nasty shade of purple, hmm, he deserved that.'_ She pursed her lips.

Itachi didn't question their refusal and after what seemed like forever to Sakura, he finally moved away from her, his steps towards the door swift and easy as he pulled his straw hat over his dark locks. He was turned away from her, but shifted his head so that she could see the left side of his face a little.

"We will leave you to consider the proposition," Sakura scoffed at the choice of the word making Itachi's eyes flash. But he didn't comment about it, instead continued, "If you don't accept, the consequences will be dire. And if you do..."

Sakura interrupted him, frowning at his back, "Don't bother explaining Uchiha-san, because I have absolutely no intention of accepting it."

There was a pause and then Itachi disappeared. For a moment Sakura prepared herself to expect him to appear in front of her, or behind her, finally making her pay for her constant insolence. But he seemed to have really been gone. As his lasts words rang in her ears, Sakura couldn't suppress the shiver that went along her back or the fear that rose in her throat.

"Choose your words with care, kunoichi."

After a full minute that Itachi was gone, the others who were just as frozen to the spot as her, finally made a move.

Deidara sighed, "Well, trust the Uchiha to be all cool." Then he turned towards her, letting a smirk touch his lips, "Why don't you just agree to it?" He saw the angry outburst coming towards him and raised his hands in surrender and winked at her, "You are stuck with us either way, yeah."

Deidara finally left the room with Tobi following his suit after bowing to her and apologizing to her once again.

Kisame was the last person to leave. She could see the sadistic smirk curling around his lips.

"What is it?" She snapped at him; she had enough of them for a lifetime.

"Maa, maa, what a temper you have there, Pinky," he laughed at her openly.

"Oh yeah? You have yet to see the first of it, Kisame-san," she spat out at the floor.

Kisame paused, staring at her in astonishment before recovering, "Was that a threat Pinky?"

Even if Sakura was stupid enough to say what came to her mind, she was not just going to tempt a famed mass murderer into killing her by confirming that it had indeed been a threat, albeit one that she most certainly couldn't carry out.

When Sakura didn't answer he waved a dismissive hand towards her and continued, "Well, anyways, you should watch your tongue. And don't try anything funny. We will be notified the instant you try to pull something off. He won't be so considerate next time, Pinky."

Sakura could only be sure that the 'he' referred to Itachi.

"Don't call me that!" She snapped at him instead.

"Besides, I can feel the senses coming back in my hand. Who knows if I will be able to resist the urge to fit it around your neck the next time around," His laughter rang out and then the sound of the door sliding shut, and Sakura was left to herself, her eyes twitching at Kisame's innuendo.

Sighing, Sakura fell on her knees. The ground was made of stone and was cold. For the first time she took the time to take a good look around the room.

The room was quite spacious with stone floor and walls. There was only one window, facing a pond of some kinds, giving her no clues whatsoever about where she was situated.

'_Country of Waterfall maybe?_' Inner Sakura suggested but she shook her head dubiously.

The room was very humbly furnished with tatami rugs and a futon at the corner of the room. There was some tapestry hanging from the walls but held nothing of interest to Sakura. The room was dimply lit by one single fire lamp; the orange glow was far different from the florescent ones that she was used to back at home.

She walked over to the wall of which most of it lay in rubbles.

'_What are you waiting for, knock the damn wall down!'_ She watched Inner grin in her mind's eye.

Sakura sighed, _'It's not that easy.'_ She glanced at the chipped off stone, the wall was too thick to actually be penetrated by one of her non-chakra enhanced punches. _'They drained me off my chakra,'_ she made a face. _'Besides, it would take at least a few chakra enhanced punches to make even the smallest dents on this solid stone.'_

Plus, the walls, the window, the door, all of it seemed to be wired with some kind of chakra that trickled through it. Now anyone of lesser knowledge in chakra manipulation would have never noticed it. But Sakura being an efficient chakra processor, had noticed it without even touching it or disrupting the flow. Because a disruption would surely inform her captors of it and could do nothing more than invite trouble for her. Hence, all forms of escape route was blocked unless of course, she wanted to invite trouble.

She didn't think she wanted to take another chance with the Akatsuki this soon, especially with their patience which already was running low with her. She had already as well as pissed Itachi off and it was his mood that made the difference between her life and death. Kisame had very well walked out of the room with a challenge. She didn't want to evoke the monsters within any of them on simple whims.

'_If we're going to pull out an escape from the clutches of Akatsuki and hope to make it out alive_,' she told Inner, _'we have much to plan.'_

But for now she was exhausted to the bone. Groaning to herself, she flopped herself on the futon. The mattress didn't bring her any comfort; mentally or physically. Tossing around for some time, she settled to simply summon up everything that had happened in the short period of time. With nothing else to do, Sakura had no other choice but to mull over the proposition that Akatsuki had bombarded her with.

The capture itself informed her of nothing, other than that Akatsuki had found means to tamper with the Daimyo's seal and with Konoha's mission roaster. The prospect was alarming. She hoped that Junko was safe by now and has deduced something to send back word to Konoha of her misfortune.

She wondered how much time had transpired since she lost consciousness back at the forest. Why had she forgotten to ask them so? Surely, if word has reached Konoha by now, rescue teams have been dispatched... But then again Akatsuki wasn't stupid enough to leave a trail behind them, unless they wanted to lure them here, which she doubted and Itachi also had made it a point to outright deny it. Not that she believed his words for it of course, but really, what did they have to gain lying to her?

'_So they must be telling the truth,'_ she mused.

But that meant that Akatsuki was truly in medical trouble... she vaguely wondered which of their member it was. It must be pretty serious and quite a delicate situation if they were anxious enough to seek outside help.

Sakura's medical side kicked in and she found herself growing curious by the second as to what could have happened to one of the members of Akatsuki to have disregarded their ego and vehemence to seek out help... She wanted to know.

Plus if it was a delicate situation and if she agreed it would mean that she would get knowledge of the anatomy of one of their members and that mere knowledge would be of a great advantage to Konoha in the times to come. Or maybe she could even manipulate certain components in the body to serve her purposes... of course she would have to be careful, lest she wanted to get killed...

Then it drew to her mind. Akatsuki was seeking out help, yes, that must mean that they were aware of the matter of revealing many of their secrets to a complete stranger, and in her case, a certain enemy... Why would they risk revealing themselves to one such as her?

The thought made her blood run cold.

Unless, of course, they were planning on disposing of her as soon as they deemed her unnecessary to their cause; for they possessed both the authority and the malice to do so.

And then another though crossed her mind; one that made her eyes widen in horror greater than the thought of her disposal.

She had _actually_ been considering the offer.

Sakura clenched her fists and bought them to punch on the either sides of the futon she was lying in. She stared up at the high stone ceiling, unconsciously following the long web that some spider had conjured.

She lay there in silence for a few moments, breathing in and out, calming herself. Finally she opened her eyes.

A picture of Naruto flashed in front of her, grinning at her like there was no tomorrow. And then Kakashi's face popped up, his lone eye crinkled. Tsunade's proud smile as she watched her knock down trees. Ino's smirk as she challenged her. Lee giving her a thumbs-up in all his kindness. Neji smirking at her, telling her that she had indeed improved. Tenten teaching her how to throw a shuriken with the perfect accuracy. Hinata blushing as soon as she mentioned Naruto's name. Her parents. Shizune. Sai. Shikamaru. Yamato. Kurenai. Chouji. Genma. Gaara. Temari. Kankuro. And so many, many more people who looked up to her and depended on her.

She was ashamed to have even considered the offer. There was nothing to consider, there was nothing to think about; her choice had already been there from the very start.

She was a respected kunoichi and she served Konoha and that's where her loyalty rested. There was nothing to think about. Her choice was set and she would stick to it. It didn't matter even if it costs her very life. Shinobi were raised to value their country's aspirations over their own lives. Likewise, she was a loyal shinobi of the Leaf, and she couldn't think of a better way to die than protecting her country's honor.

Sakura found herself drifting off in an uncomfortable but appreciated slumber, with the last thoughts of an unwavering resolution.

There was no way she was going to betray Konoha or her friends' trust by healing even a scratch of their mortal enemies. Uchiha Itachi could kill her if he wanted.

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

**A/N: **Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed! If you are an author too, I think you would just know how happy your reviews possibly made me! Thanks a million guys. I will try my best not to disappoint you!

**A Little Birdie Tells Me.**


	4. The Question Remains

**DISCLAIMER: **I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only and without any intention of infringing upon any copyright. Also, consumption of alcohol is injurious for the health. Thanks.

* * *

**Desires of the Heart: Confliction**

_Chapter IV: The Question Remains_

* * *

The next day Sakura woke up to find a tray of the most simple food resting beside her futon; but as her stomach grumbled with passion, Sakura realized she would normally never be as content as she was then with the items on the tray.

Devouring the plate off its steaming noodles and the fresh green apple, Sakura satisfied herself by taking small sips of water from the glass to quench her dry throat.

After breakfast she put the plate and the glass on the tray and organized them and left them by the door for someone to come in and take it away, just as someone had delivered it there.

Vaguely she imagined Kisame in a pink apron sliding the paper doors open and leaving the tray there and broke out in fits of giggles.

'_That would be a sight to see.'_ But she doubted anyone would ever witness such a sight, and even if they did, they certainly wouldn't live to tell the tale.

Then she lounged around, having nothing to do or to think about since she had already decided on what to make out of the proposition. For some time she fancied devising up escaping strategies and then concluding with a sigh that, as brilliant as she was, she would never be able see through it with the Uchiha genius on her tow. And then, what was the point of trying to escape? They would catch up to her and finish her off. They planned to do so anyways at some point.

So she found herself not worrying her head about pointless schemes to run away and to just remain an obedient little girl. At least it would keep her alive until Naruto and Kakashi came crashing on the door, searching for their weak little Sakura-chan. Maybe they would even be able to defeat her captors and save her. Until then Sakura made it her mission to remain alive by some means other than agreeing to their offer.

But then again one can't just waltz in and hear about the dilemmas of Akatsuki and then waltz out like a free bird. So Sakura was pretty sure she was fated to die very soon one way or other. But she decided she would like to stall it and see a few more days if she could help it.

Pushing all ideas of escaping at the furthermost corner of her mind, Sakura found herself facing with the problem of keeping her mind off the proposition. The more she thought about it, the more she found some twisted reason to agree. At one point instead of chanting her original decision, she began to try to lock up the whole topic at the darkest corner of her mind.

But it was pity that there was nothing else in the room to take her mind off it. When nothing seemed to be working, Sakura lay down on the bed and willed herself to fall in a dreamless sleep. And when that didn't work out well, she just busied herself in counting sheep.

* * *

It was much later that she woke up, having heard the hissing sound of the paper door sliding open. Rubbing the sleep off her eyes she found Kisame standing there, looking around.

"Oh, it's just you," Sakura said, yawning at the back of her hand.

This seemed to amuse him, because he chuckled. Sakura wondered what it could have been to amuse him so.

"Is there something you want?" She asked, questioning his very presence.

"Weren't you advised to choose your words with care, Pinky?" He grinned at the look of annoyance that crossed her face. Finally, she sighed.

Kisame leaned against the door frame and explained, "I was just coming around to check on you, see if everything was alright," his black eyes gleamed, "But you seem to have managed just fine. That's an improvement Pinky, giving us no trouble for one entire day."

Sakura frowned at him; it was like he was there just to ridicule her into doing something stupid, _'So as it turns out, he does want to get me killed after all.'_

"How is the bruise coming along, Kisame-san?" She asked all too sweetly, referring to her punch that had bruised his cheek purple. She saw with a glint of satisfaction as Kisame's eyes flashed and his jaws tightened and then his pose relaxed and he laughed, making her blink.

"It is like you are asking for us to kill you, Pinky. I want to shed you into pieces, I'll admit it," he ran his tongue over his lips making her shudder, "But then, what's the fun in making everything easier for you? I want to see how this plays out."

Sakura had no idea what 'this' meant, but she didn't have the heart to ask anymore. She merely turned away from him and walked over to the window.

"How long has it been since I was captured?" She changed the topis, looking out at the moon shinning in the clear night sky. She wondered if her friends in Konoha were seeing the same moon as she.

"We took you in yesterday and now you wasted a day sleeping in," he flashed a grin, showing off his pointy teeth. Everything about the man made her shudder.

"Hmm."

So it has been two days; too short a time for Tsunade to suspect anything, unless Junko had found the sense to inform the Hokage of her misfortune. Maybe Junko had assumed the attack on her life by the Akatsuki as mere coincidence? Maybe she wasn't still up from being knocked out by the Sharringan or the shark man's blow? Then another thought occurred to her.

"Did you cross paths with Junko-san or did you merely pose as her from information?" She suddenly asked him. Seeing him cock his head in confusion, she explained, "The old woman who was waiting for me."

Kisame laughed, "Oh that. We had no idea you had plans of meeting up with some old hag in the first place. We just made up a henge to lure you out from the town. We didn't want to attract attention to ourselves did we?"

This made Sakura whirl around at him in revelation, "But didn't Itachi-san mention about not hurting her?"

"Well, we couldn't hurt her if we didn't cross paths with her in the first place, right?"

Sakura didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. This meant that Junko was as safe as a mouse and no harm had befallen her.

But this also meant that neither Junko, nor anyone else had the faintest idea of the misfortune than had befallen her. Junko, herself may assume that her absence was related to her being tied up with the other 'mission' with her other mission. Maybe she would wait for another few days before thinking something was off and contacting Tsunade. By then it would be too late...

Shaking off the thoughts, she realized another very important and vital fact. Right now no one had a clue where she was. Or who took her, which is if they were to guess correctly that she had indeed been kidnapped.

Sakura groaned in dismay and slammed her head against the window ledge, disrupting the chakra flow in the process. Kisame immediately took care of the disruption by just mingling his chakra into the wall, alerting the others or just Itachi that everything was under control, no doubt.

"I'm sorry," Sakura had the politeness to say, for she could guess that Kisame would have to answer to Itachi about this later and how frightening it could be for those who valued their lives.

'_Not that Kisame needed it; surely Akatsuki had rules against murdering their partners.'_ Inner said scathingly.

Before she knew it, she asked Kisame about it, "Has an Akatsuki ever killed his partner?"

Kisame looked at her with mirth, "Why do you ask?"

Watching a broad grin curl on his lips, she wondered whether she should take back her inquiry while she had the time. Sakura just shook her head. It was just something that occurred to her.

Kisame answered anyways; and it wasn't the answer that she was expecting, "Many a times." Sakura shot him a horrified look, and he just shrugged and chuckled at her expression, no doubt questioning her shinobi status in his mind, "In fact, Kakuzu killed so many of his partners over some petty fight or other that Leader-sama had to partner Hidan with him."

Sakura remembered reading the thin file on the Akatsuki member Hidan, they didn't have much on him. Maybe she should try and see if she could dig some information out of the shark-nin about him.

She scrunched up her nose in distaste, "Is he the one that follows a... er, Satanist cult?" She finished uncertainly.

Kisame waved his hand dismissively, "Jashin, Hidan calls him," Kisame didn't look very convinced of the entire idea, "Anyways, Jashin granted Hidan immortality a few years back in return of the sacrificial ceremonies dedicated to him. With Hidan, Kakuzu can't kill him off. That saves a lot of recruiting trouble for everyone."

"These... sacrificial ceremonies... er, they don't involve sacrificing humans, do they?" Sakura didn't know why she asked it, because the answer would definitely be what she dreaded; she could see it coming.

Kisame grinned, "Why? Blood spilled makes you queasy, Pinky?"

Kisame hadn't given her an affirmation. But it was as good as one. Inner Sakura gagged, and she had to put a lot of effort to restrain herself from doing the same. She didn't want to know anymore about the ways of Akatsuki; they disgusted her to the very core!

"I see your hand is back to normal," she commented bluntly, trying to avert the topic. Kisame didn't reply, but Sakura caught the motion of his limb twitching a bit.

After some time passed in silence, Kisame at last withdrew from this position at the door, "Well everything seems fine to me. I will be going now," and turned around before pausing, "Oh, and here you go, your back-pack." He tossed a little bag towards her which she caught with automatic reflex.

"You will find everything that we deemed," he paused to find the right words and smirked, "_safe_ in there. The other things were removed."

Sakura nodded, noticing the weapons were obviously missing. They had let her retain the medical scrolls, which was good as it would give her something to do other than staring up at the dreary ceiling or wall. Flipping through the contents she realized what else was missing; the scroll that documented her mission.

She raised her eyes to meet Kisame's. He probably had lingered around to watch her realize the absence of the scroll in the first place in order to mock her. He merely flashed all the thirty-two sets of teeth at her. She didn't see the point of mentioning the scroll anymore; it was evidently forged for the purpose of luring her out into their trap. Instead she remembered about her earlier need to clean up.

"I would like to clean up."

It seemed like Kisame had never heard of the prospect of cleaning up judging by the look he wore; not that Sakura was surprised. She snorted. He thought over it for some moments before nodding and motioning her to follow him. Sakura grabbed the only other spare of clothes that she had bothered to pack since the mission had been a short one, and followed him out of the room.

She felt a strange sensation creep up to her when she was exiting through the door and concluded that it was the chakra flow alerting her captors of her exit. But she didn't have to worry about that. It was up to Kisame to explain to the Uchiha if he came rushing in. Sakura giggled at the thought of Itachi rushing in. Knowing Itachi that would be the last thing he would ever be seen doing. Because Uchiha Itachi didn't rush; he was just precise to the point of precision.

'_Speaking about Itachi, where is he?'_ Inner asked skeptically. She hadn't seen her since the time when he made the proposition. She decided to ask the blue skinned man, "Where is Uchiha-san?"

Kisame paused a bit, before simply saying, "Out." Sakura didn't push him.

Halting outside the washroom, Kisame nudged her in, slamming the door shut after warning her, "Don't try anything funny now, Pinky."

Sakura waited for his chakra to walk down the hallway and to the downstairs floor where his chakra stayed positioned. She then proceeded to strip off her clothes and turned on the shower, letting her body relax under the steaming water.

'_Ah, it feels so damn good.' _Inner moaned in agreement with her.

Lathering her hand with the soap she washed her body, ridding her body off all the kinks and dirt alike. She found a bottle of shampoo in the shelf and took advantage of it. After she had dried her hair off, it felt as soft as silk. When was the last time she had had the fortune of having such silky hair? Not in recent times. Sakura was just done drying herself when the loud knock on the door startled her.

"Eeep!"

"Oi Pinky, hurry up! You have been in there for the last half an hour!"

Oh, has it been so long? It certainly didn't feel like it. Yelling back that she would be out in a minute, she began to dress herself in her spare red shirt and the plain black ninja slacks.

When she came out some fifteen minutes later, Kisame wasn't standing guard outside the door. Sakura wondered what was expected of her. Was she to return to her room immediately? She must be. But being curious in the nature, Sakura ventured in the opposite direction, making sure to follow Kisame's chakra; she didn't want to be found far away from him and be accused of trying to escape. It would definitely be the last straw.

Treading down the stone steps, she found herself in the rather cozily furnished den. Kisame's chakra was coming from the other room to her right, as was a loud eerie rumbling sound. She took a few hesitating steps into the kitchen to find Kisame indulged deep in alcohol, his head passed out on the wooden table and the floor littered with empty alcohol bottles. Seriously, did the man drink all that by himself? Drinking was injurious to health as it was and drinking in such extents... Sakura didn't want to think how Kisame's liver might just look if they cut him open.

'_Probably as blue as his skin,'_ her Inner snickered in amusement.

But Sakura was more concentrated in containing her pounding heart as she stood there frozen, watching every disgusting bubble that came out of Kisame's drunken nose and popped away lightly. Adrenaline pumped through her. She didn't dare extend her chakra to check his to see if indeed he was passed out or not. The urge to rush towards the main door was strong.

For a second she hesitated, thinking about the consequences of getting caught in the act. But the urge to escape was overpowering as she began to take steps backwards as silently as her excitement would allow.

Sakura winced as her back collided with a wooden chair, making a creaking noise. She shut her eyes, dreading the sound of Kisame's roar... But the loud snores continued. Sighing in big relief, she slowly turned around and slowly tiptoed across the kitchen, careful to keep her excitement under watch in case she screwed up in all her impatience.

She paused at the middle of the den. A few more steps and she would be out of her prison. In all the excitement Sakura didn't realize that the main door maybe flowing with her enemy's chakra just as her door, or that even if she did make out of the door, it would take long to actually be in safety from the hands of Akatsuki. Or that it was impossible to make it out of the unknown land with the little amount of chakra she had. Or that it would take a miracle to dupe Uchiha Itachi.

Containing her exhilarating heart, she meekly glanced over at the kitchen one last time to make sure that Kisame wasn't roused and was definitely not following her; she didn't want to have his awful sword pressed against her throat again; especially now that he would definitely be going for the kill and not to mention that nuke-nin in a drunken haze was not the best combination for people who valued their lives.

No, Kisame was not following her. He was still passed out in the kitchen, his loud snores reverberating against the wooden table. A small smile of triumph broke out on her lips.

She turned her head around and took one step towards her freedom...

...

...

...

...Only to collide into something hard.

The cry of pain left her as her hand flew up to nurse her definitely broken nose, she stumbled back a strange rush of blood rushing to her.

"Ouch!" She flinched at the stinging pain on her nose.

"Where do you think you are going, yeah?" A very amused voice whispered.

Sakura's eyes widened as she slowly looked up to meet the lone cerulean eye of the blonde whose appearance reminded her of Ino. She groaned. So much for freedom. Sulking, she turned around and waddled over to the couch and flopped down on it, moaning in pain. She felt dizzy. She looked over at Deidara who stood over her, eyeing her in open amusement.

"Is there something funny in what you see?" She demanded in irritation.

"Just how striking the blood looks coming down your cute little nose, yeah," he replied, eyeing her face with, what she took as awe.

Sakura's eyes twitched as she shrieked indignantly, "You creep!"

Deidara seemed to find her reaction very entertaining as he threw back his head and laughed openly. Sakura could only glare draggers at him as she summoned what little chakra she found in herself to her hand to heal the injury before she fainted.

Before she could put her healing chakra to work, there was a loud noise from the kitchen and next moment a very sober Kisame with eyes as big as saucers was seen running out of the kitchen. He was just going to fly up the stairs when he sensed them and whirled around. His eyes immediately fell on the pink haired kunoichi and he raised his sword to point at her,

"YOU!" He all but roared.

Deidara seemed to have controlled his laughter a little, as he witnessed the whole exchange. He whispered to her, a smirk tugging on his lips, "What have you done to Fish-face this time, kunoichi-san?"

Kisame strode over to them, his eyes were frantic and he was slightly panting, "What exactly were you trying to pull off?"

Sakura blinked as her mind raced to come up with a reasonable excuse.

"What got your knickers in a twist?" She slapped herself mentally as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Kisame looked confounded as Deidara howled with laughter.

Glaring down at her, his sword dangling very close to her throat, he narrowed his beady eyes at her, "You were trying to escape weren't you?"

"No," she said bluntly, hoping with all her heart that the lie sounded convincing.

Kisame didn't look like he believed her as he motioned to her nose, "How did that happen?"

Deidara, in all his kindness, came to her rescue, "Give her a break, Fish-face. She was being careless and bumped into me, yeah."

Kisame pondered over the blonde's words for a moment and then shrugged and seemed to have believed him. Only when the big man had turned away to leave to the kitchen, did she throw back her head against the arm-rest and close her eyes in relief.

"It'll be our little secret, yeah," the whisper made her crack open her eyes.

Deidara was bended over the couch, his chest almost touching hers, as his mouth brushed against her ear making her shiver.

"P-Pardon?" She stammered, her mind carefully wiped blank.

"Your little... episode... I'll keep it a secret."

Sakura's eyes widened. So he knew. She narrowed her eyes, but then why was he saying that he would keep it a hushed? Wasn't he an Akatsuki, didn't he have to answer to his comrades?

"Why?" Her voice came out in a hoarse whisper as she searched his blue eyes that regretfully reminded her of the vastness of Naruto's eyes of the same shade. Like Naruto's, his too seemed to hold an endless spark of delight in them.

Deidara's lips stretched into a smirk, "Let's just say I want to observe this," he paused, searching for the right word, "this _art_, yeah."

He finally seemed to straighten up, running his hand through his light locks. All the while his eye roamed around her face, taking in her clouded eyes as if she couldn't understand something. Smiling, Deidara added, "Besides, this is not my mission, yeah."

What was this 'art' he was referring to? And then the remark about it not being his mission, she knew that this was Itachi and Kisame's mission; Deidara didn't have any obligation to it, but did that give him the liberty to screw it up? Shaking her head mentally, she concluded she wouldn't ever be able to understand the minds of an Akatsuki. She just wasn't capable of such a feat. She doubted anyone with a sane mind was.

Instead she withdrew her eyes from the blond man who was still staring down at her, and concentrated on summoning the last of her chakra like she was doing before Kisame oh-so-rudely interrupted her, and began setting her nose. In a few minutes, the nose was back to its original position and her lightheaded feeling was residing. But her chakra was positively drained. She felt exhausted.

"You look like you could do with some food in your system, yeah."

Sakura looked up at him with tired green eyes. It was becoming hard to keep her eyes open. "Hmm?"

"Uchiha ordered Fish-face to make dinner tonight, yeah," Sakura faintly sniggered as the thought of Kisame in a pink apron came to her mind, "Come," Deidara offered his hand.

Sakura looked up at him and glanced down at his outstretched hand. Her mind whirled, she couldn't think properly.

'_But,'_ she told herself, _'What the hell?'_

She accepted his hand and was glad for the help as he effortlessly pulled her off the couch and up on her feet.

"Arigato," she muttered, wobbling on her feet a little. Smiling, Deidara caught her elbow and helped her walk across the den back to the kitchen.

* * *

Tobi seemed to have dropped out of nowhere and was peering down a bowl and saying something to Kisame when his eyes fell on the new comers.

"Deidara-senp..." he trailed off, his eyes fixed on the hand that was supporting the pink haired kunoichi who was struggling to keep her eyes open.

Tobi's uncharacteristic silence caught Kisame who had been stirring the soup on the stove, and he turned around and looked rather taken aback by the sight he saw. Deidara was helping the pink haired kunoichi... But what really surprised him was the fact that the girl was actually letting him help her.

Yet Kisame didn't say anything, letting his eyes to only linger on their linked arms for a moment more, his lips pressed in a thin line. Deidara caught his eye and shrugged as he helped Sakura to sit in one of the chairs.

"We will need an extra plate, yeah," he simply said.

Sakura noticed that the kitchen looked a lot cleaner than before and that the empty alcohol bottles littered around the floor was all taken care of. With the sound of something simmering on the stove, and the harmless chitter-chatters of Tobi in the background, she was happy to drift off right there on the chair when a voice caught her, making her eyes fly open in alarm.

"Why is that we need an extra plate?" The voice was coming from the doorway.

Itachi, Sakura realized with a jerk, her previous exhaustion all but forgotten.

Deidara had been standing behind her chair, hiding her from the view of the doorway. Now Deidara decided to move away, settling himself in the chair on her right.

"Kunoichi-san is joining us for dinner, Itachi-san!" Tobi chorused, making both Deidara and Kisame relax visibly as they had been unsure how to respond to the Uchiha's blunt question whilst preserving their lives. Itachi didn't seem to mind since he didn't say anything, instead made his way to the table and seated himself directly opposite of Sakura.

Kisame began to fetch the dishes and Tobi helped set the table. The food consisted of plain rice, cabbage and miso soup. Sakura had to admit that Kisame was a pretty decent cook. Or she was just famished. No one spoke during the meal or for a very long time after the meal, waiting for the tea. It was surprising how homely the whole scene seemed like.

Kisame had just risen to clear up the table, again with the help of Tobi. And Sakura found herself wondering if she should volunteer to do the dishes, now that her strength was coming back. But then she caught herself; what was she thinking, wanting to offer her help to her enemies? She reminded herself that she was through with this topic; she wasn't going to help them, no matter even if it was in little things like washing the dishes.

Deidara was making miniature bird like statues with what appeared to be clay. Sakura could sense the faint hum of chakra coursing through the tiny creatures. Deidara caught her staring at his little creations and flashed a smile. She continued watching him play with the clay birds until tea was finally served.

Itachi was the first to finish his tea. Sakura tried concentrating on her tea when she realized that the elder Uchiha's eyes were boring into her. She took the last few sips and kept her eyes down casted. When the last drops of tea were sucked up from her cup, she put it down, concentrating on memorizing the pattern on the saucer instead. She didn't know what she was expected to do now.

She didn't want to look up at his scrutinizing gaze but when Sakura did risk a quick peek up at him, she immediately found herself captured by those deadly read eyes and unable to look back down, making her feel like a deer caught in headlights, as he stared down at her unblinkingly.

Her breath hitched a little.

"You are expected to have come to a decision by now," Itachi spoke calmly, his voice as monotonous as ever.

Her heart was thundering hard in panic as she realized that there was no avoiding this confrontation. Sakura ran her tongue over her parched lips; how was she going to tell him that she wasn't going to accept it without getting killed? She hadn't yet come up with a plan... not that she ever could. She was dead the instant she had stepped into that civilian village, one way or another.

Sakura pushed back the fear that always seemed to awake deep within her whenever the Uchiha was around. Swallowing hard, she began, "Uchiha-san, I have thought-"

"A simple yes or no will suffice."

That was cold. Biting her lips and preparing herself with the prospect that the words that she was going to utter could very well be her last words; she looked at him squarely into the eyes. She swallowed hard, and then spoke, her voice sounding strange to her own ears.

"My decision is the same as the last time."

There was a long pause, where every pair of eyes in the room seemed to be glued to her, making her want to cringe. Her heart that thundered in her chest seemed to have stopped beating altogether as she waited warily for his response.

When Itachi moved next, Sakura was sure that her end has arrived.

But he had only been shifting his hand. "And why is that?" He asked.

Sakura was shocked at the notion of Itachi ever asking people for their reasoning... and it seemed Deidara and Kisame were surprised too, by the way their heads had instantly snapped to his direction.

What type of a question was that? He must know of her loyalty to her village, to her friends and family... Wasn't it clear as the water? There was no way she was going to betray her loved ones.

But then again, what would he know of such bonds? He had murdered his own blood and flesh in cold blood. He had bought down the curtain on his clan in one night and left his younger brother with the tormenting memories of a phantom, pushing him as far as to seek out the help of a sociopath as Orochimaru.

Sakura realized that if she were to blame anyone for how Sasuke turned out to be, it was this man who was sitting right in front of her ridiculing her very loyalty towards her village with nothing but a blank face. Uchiha Itachi.

Sakura didn't know what possessed her to do so, but she jumped to her feet, slamming her hand hard on the wooden table making a sick cracking sound erupt as she glared at the elder Uchiha. At least it was better than her initial urge to jump on him and strangle him, not that she could manage to go as far as to get near him.

She was vaguely aware that she should be feeling fear cloud her mind as those vivid read eyes surrounded by the long lashes worthy of putting a woman to shame, stared back at her pinning against her very soul. She knew that she should be frightened for her life as he too rose from his seat, pushing the chair backwards as it made a screeching sound against the stone.

But Sakura strangely didn't feel any of it. She could only feel the anger that came bursting like water bursting out of a dam.

"How dare you?" She trembled at the intensity of her rage.

"How dare I what, kunoichi?" Of course, he had the nerve to ask.

"How dare you question me about my loyalty?" She found herself screaming at him across the table, not caring how dead she would be even before she'd finish the sentence, "How dare you forget that not everyone is like you, driven by the selfish purposes and only bearing their own benefits in mind? I have friends and a home to protect! I have people depending upon my very decision! I have my family and loved ones to cherish! You might have the _privilege_ to do as you might, kill as you might but not everyone is like you! Not everyone _enjoys,_" she spat the word in disgust, "killing people, let alone their own flesh and blood."

Sakura couldn't describe the atmosphere of the room right then. There was something very dangerous brewing, only greater than the time when she had provoked Itachi the day before. There was this prickling sensation and she felt the whole room weigh down on her as if... as if by his mere presence!

In the blink of an eye Itachi was standing in front of her, his taller frame looming over her as his crimson eyes stared down into her pools of emerald. She stepped back in reflex until her back met the stone kitchen counter. She was cornered, with the Uchiha pressed against her. She could feel his warmth through their heavy clothing and his equally warm breath fanning across her face.

For the umpteenth time since meeting him, she wondered why he didn't just pull her into with his Sharringan and leave her to rot in the world of Tsukiyomi...

She saw something dark twist in his face, the face that was _always_ pressed into a blank slate of impassiveness. Was it anger? Was he angry at her? Was he even capable of such an emotion in the first place? Was he going to kill her?

"I don't need to justify my actions to you, kunoichi," his voice was dark, making her heart clench in fear. His red eyes pierced right through her.

"No, you don't," she found herself mumbling along, completely unable to take her eyes off his face. His complexion was darker than Sasuke's and his jaw line as prominent as those of his brother's. But what drew her in were his eyes; his blazing red eyes that revealed nothing but the dangers that lurked behind it curtains that stared right down her, right through her, leaving her bare. His eyelashes were so long, and the shape of his eyes was something akin to a woman's femininity. And if anything the creases under his eyes drew her in even more.

"Like you said, I can kill you without a flicker of hesitation just like I killed those of my flesh and blood."

"Of course, you can," Sakura agreed to it without a doubt, her mind registering nothing but his red, red eyes that seemed to have captivated her jade ones once and for all.

"And perhaps I would enjoy it too." There was a flash in his eyes making her breath hitch.

There was a pause, in which Sakura's emerald eyes never left his deadly ones, and seemed very well as to relent to the Uchiha's demands. And then she finally whispered, her eyes shining with a renewed determination burning behind them. There was no way she would give in.

"No."

...

...

...

Itachi didn't do anything; instead the darkness that Sakura witnessed on his expression disappeared altogether, once again leaving a blank slate on its wake. Sakura felt herself grow jealous of his poker face; she had never been able to master such a thing, only hanging in between, letting her emotions get the better of her every time.

He stepped back from her, but his eyes never leaving her. Instantly Sakura missed his warmth, the humid air of the room seemed far too cold for her.

"Your loyalty is admirable, kunoichi. I will give you one more day."

"And so what if I help? After that you are just going to use me to lure out Naruto, I assume! And then use me for your sick agendas until I'm deemed useless and you'd be free to kill me!" She shouted at him vehemently.

But of course Itachi had turned away from her and took two steps back, his cloak hiding the rapid movements of his feet. "Kisame," was all he said.

Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Kisame glancing at his ever stoic partner.

"Either way you are stuck with us for now," Kisame told her, sounding much formidable than he did in her room earlier.

"Hn."

And then he disappeared into the thin air.

The moment that he disappeared the whole atmosphere seemed to have come loose. She could hear Deidara shift in his seat. Sakura dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. She was aware of the other three lingering presence in the room, but couldn't help the sobs that racked through her body. It had been years since she had cried, always subduing it over and over. But finally the tap seemed to have come loose.

There was hurried footsteps coming her way and then she was engulfed in warmth. "Kunoichi-san don't cry! Tobi doesn't like it when people cry! Tobi is sure Itachi-san didn't want to make kunoichi-san cry!" Tobi's frantic attempt to calm her down went unheeded as he hugged her, kneeling beside her.

"Itachi-san didn't want to make kunoichi-san cry! Itachi-san even praised kunoichi-san!"

As Sakura leaned in to Tobi's arms, darkness finally overcoming her sad soul, she realized with a shocking jolt, that yes, Itachi had indeed praised her.

"_**Your loyalty is admirable, kunoichi."**_

_Holy shit._

Because you just can't just refuse Uchiha Itachi and expect as much as to live.

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

**A/N: **So things are picking up. Also I've decided that I'm not gonna write the part of the Konoha search team that obviously will be deployed at some point of the plot. I think I'm gonna stick to Sakura throughout the whole story. But of course, our favorite people from Konoha will make their appearances; I'm not _that_ heartless.

**A Little Birdie Tells Me. **


	5. Guilty Conscience

**DISCLAIMER: **I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto. This is purely Fanfiction and had been written for entertainment purposes only and without any intention of infringing upon any copyright. Thanks.

* * *

**Desires of the Heart: Confliction**

_Chapter V: Guilty Conscience_

* * *

Sakura could barely sleep that night, as she kept tossing around. The futon was most uncomfortable and the room had no ventilation system making it difficult to get some sleep in the humid temperature as she kept sweating like a pig.

Finally she threw off the poor excuse of a blanket off her and sat up on the futon. She decided that since the floor was made of stone, perhaps it would help cool her skin if she slept on it.

Unfortunately for her, sleeping on stone takes a lot of getting used to. Although it provided her with coolness as she had expected, it was greatly painful to sleep on solid, hard, stone. Yet she tried for some time to settle into the stone, but the attempt was futile. And at last Sakura had no other option than to get up and pace around the room.

Her pastel hair was glued to her forehead as sweat dripped down her temple. Her skin had become oily and her clothes clung to her body, drenched. She sighed, oh, what she wouldn't give for a bath right then. Her desire to fall asleep was even greater than her desire to take a bath, because the more she stayed on her conscious mind, the more she pondered over things that she didn't appreciate thinking about. Like one particular Uchiha.

Like how good it had felt to be bathed in his warmth, she was surprised that he was so warm for someone so cold blooded. Like how good he had smelt; of sandalwood with an alluring tang of masculinity. Like how elongated his dark lashes were, cascading down his bright red eyes and just touching his pale cheeks. Like how the tiny flecks in his eyes shimmered even in the dark. Like how utterly delicious his lips looked; even pressed into a thin line.

Sakura groaned, she was not just thinking that! She slammed her head against the futon. What the hell was she doing? She was in a situation of life and death and here she was thinking how utterly beautiful her enemy was.

Sakura twitched; _'I so didn't say that again.'_

Blowing out a huff, she once again began to pace up and down the room. She needed something to take her mind off disturbing thoughts like how attractive a mass murderer was.

"GAH!" She screamed in the pillow.

Here she was trapped in the schemes of the greatest evil master-minds in shinobi history, and instead of being rational and thinking of a way to get herself out of it; she was acting like a total hormonal teenager. Damn it.

Earlier Sakura had known for sure that Itachi would kill her. She cursed herself for letting her emotions get hold of her, like always, and almost resulting to a painful death.

She had yelled at Uchiha Itachi and then she had the nerve to mock his actions of killing off his family. And Itachi had threatened her in a very calm facade. But Sakura had been too infatuated with the younger Uchiha brother in her earlier life which seemed ages ago now, to let the dark look that crossed the elder's Uchiha's face slip through her trained eyes. Sakura didn't know much about how an Uchiha's mind worked, but she was pretty well accustomed to how they wore their emotions, however rare they might be. And watching the expression twist into shadow, she realized that there had been something in her words that had ruffled his calm and impassive facade.

Or perhaps she was very mistaken. Perhaps it was just the light playing tricks on her mind, or perhaps it was her own deluded mind. Because how was it possible for Uchiha Itachi to feel anything? How on earth was it possible for Uchiha Itachi to be affected by some words uttered by someone as her?

She was sure that there was something there on Itachi's expression earlier; he had let slip of his facade and he had realized so and had seemed very much in haste to leave the spot. No one other than her had noticed it, but she swore it had been there.

But then again, this was Uchiha Itachi, very different from Uchiha Sasuke. She couldn't just base Itachi's expressions on Sasuke's subtle displays of it from so many years ago. Itachi was his own person, an Uchiha or not.

And then she had broken down crying in front of her enemies, leaving her bare to their entire wrath in that one moment. She had sobbed there for a long time, all the while letting an Akatsuki hug her to calm her down.

'_What the hell were you thinking?'_ Inner screamed at her.

'_Tobi,'_ she reminded herself; she now refused to think of the orange masked simple minded guy as an enemy; as an Akatsuki. To her, he was Tobi. Not Tobi of the Akatsuki, but just simply Tobi.

He was too nice to be a part of Akatsuki, albeit his small contribution. He just didn't blend in among the intimidating Kisame, the wild Deidara, the cold Uchiha, the blood lusty Hidan or the strange Kakuzu. He was just Tobi, she told herself again.

Deciding that Kisame wouldn't mind it, Sakura gathered her towel and rose to get the cold bath that she very well deserved.

She slid open the paper door and waited a heartbeat for anything to happen. When nothing happened, she sighed and stepped out of the doorframe, instantly feeling the prickling feeling that went up her spine. Yet nothing happened. She closed the door behind her and walked down the familiar corridor to the washroom.

She opened the door and entered. The entire place was shrouded in steam, making it hard for her to see properly as her eyes stung. Probably one of her captors had taken a late bath not too long ago, she concluded. Getting used to it soon, she walked over to where the basin was to hang her towel.

She slipped off her headband and was just about to unzip her red vest when her eyes happened to fall on the mirror that was clouded from the steam.

"Aaa-" Her scream was cut off as a pale hand placed itself on her mouth, firm but not forceful.

Onyx met emerald through the mirror.

They stared at each other for some time and when Sakura had finally calmed her heart down and was sure that it wouldn't burst out of her chest, the hand on her mouth loosened but still didn't let go of the grip entirely, as if not completely sure if it would be wise to do so. Memories of their most recent encounter came to her mind.

"U-Uchiha-san," her whisper was muffled by his hand on her mouth. Their eyes were still connected by the mirror, and Sakura's eyes widened when it dawned on her that his had actually been left to revert back to their original dark hues.

He didn't bother replying as his eyes bore into her innocent, widened ones. Then his lashes lowered for a moment, withdrawing his gaze from hers for the first time since she had known of his existence.

Sakura didn't know what made her, but she took advantage of the loosened grip on her and whirled around, her hands going up to caress his temple. His eyes shot up immediately, bleeding blood red. She watched in deep fascination as those dark orbs flecked with grey filled up in with crimson, starting to spin dangerously.

"Your eyes," she whispered. Something shimmered deep in the said eyes making her snatch back her hand as if it had burnt in the contact.

Itachi leaned closer until their faces were inches apart as he peered down at her shocked face. Sakura's mind didn't even work as one of his hands came to rest lightly on the curve of her back and the other rose to her face, his fingers drawing out light strokes on her delicate skin making her eyes shut close as every touch evoked an indescribable sensation deep within her.

His slender fingers descended down, tracing her jaw line and her throat that swallowed at the quivering touch. And then his fingers again rose to caress her cheeks lightly, letting her feel each and every texture of his fingertip until she thought that she had it memorized.

Then Itachi drew back as abruptly as he had leaned in, giving her a full view of his muscled body as her eyes flew open from the lack of his fingers' warmth on her cheeks. Even the curve of her back felt colder now that it had tasted his warmth.

Sakura took him in and for the first time witnessed him for his age. His hair was loose from its tie and framing his pale face, water dripping from its damp ends down his neck to slide off his chest. Her eyes followed a single droplet of water that slipped past his neck and down to his hard chest and then down his muscled abs finally dissolving on touch with the towel that was tied around his waist.

He was younger than the creases under his eyes gave him credit for, and without his headband and his dark robe adorned with the treacherous red clouds, he looked every bit of a normal teenage boy as it was possible. In that moment it was hard for Sakura to remember that he was an Akatsuki, and worse, that he was Uchiha Itachi.

Sakura flushed as she realized she had been staring, and for quite some time too. She then meekly looked over up to him to see his eyes were looking down at her face. Suddenly she became aware of the fact that her vest was unzipped half way.

Blushing furiously, she crossed her arms over her chest, clearly self. But Itachi had the decency not to stray anywhere from her face as he regarded her quietly for a moment longer, making her fidget and shift on her feet.

'_Just what is he staring at?' _Her mind screamed.

But Sakura didn't dare ask. She had questioned him enough for a lifetime... She reminded herself of her mission to keep herself alive for as long as possible.

He didn't say anything, his gaze entangling with hers. Sakura wanted to turn around in embarrassment when he slipped off the towel off his waist, but found it impossible as she found herself drowning too deep into his pools of crimson to look away.

Sakura didn't even notice it when he finished dressing, and used the discarded towel to run it though his dark locks. Sakura could tell by just looking at his hair that it was silky and just how marvelous it would feel to have them curled around her finger...

She was jolted back to reality, her cheeks burning deep red by Itachi's deep, quiet voice, "I will leave you to your bath." As he made his way towards the door, Sakura felt something in her rise.

"U-Uchiha-san!" She called out to him just as he had placed his hand on the knob to turn it. He paused. She began panicking, why had she called out to him?

"I-I..." she fumbled, but found nothing to say. Surely he wouldn't appreciate being called out to for nothing.

"Hn?" He grunted making her swallow her dry throat.

"... Never mind," she mumbled, looking down at the floor. What was it that she had suddenly felt like saying to him? If Itachi thought her conduct to be odd, he didn't show it as he exited without a look back.

Sakura slammed her head down on the stone basin. What had she been thinking? She groaned and then proceeded to take a bath as intended.

As the warm water sank into her bones, calming her nerves, Sakura found herself thinking back to her latest encounter with the elder Uchiha. He reminded her so much of Sasuke, and the thought itself opened the pang of ache in her chest. He looked so much like Sasuke that every moment in his presence sent a pain up her chest despite her constant beating to not let it bother her.

How long had it been since Sasuke had left her lying on a bench? How long since he had closed his eyes to everything other than his wild desire for power to destroy his brother? The very same brother that she found herself thinking about constantly... The very same brother who now had her imprisoned and was tempting her in ways more than one, to betray Konoha like he had done the same to Sasuke all those years ago, ridiculing him of his ways and enticing him to betray Konoha.

She didn't even try to keep back the tears that built up in the corners of her eyes and fell down her pink tinted cheeks freely.

Sakura wondered where Sasuke was right now, if he had the faintest idea that she was in the company of her brother, still pondering over a proposition that her life depended on. For a second, Sakura disregarded all her ties to Konoha, all her obligations as a Leaf shinobi and all her friends' opinions should she really accept the offer. Would Sasuke ever forgive her for helping the likes of Akatsuki?

She frowned, and why should he care? He had never cared about her or respected her choices. What would give him the right to judge her? Hadn't he turned his back on Konoha, on Naruto and her on a whim? Wasn't he the one who had drilled into her mind that bonds were of no importance and that from that fateful day they were parting ways for the best? So what gave him the right to judge her? Was there anything for him to forgive? What did she owe that man?

So why should she care of what he thought of her? She reluctantly accepted the fact that no matter how much she tried, Sasuke would always be in her way trying to hold her back and question her every decisions even if he had no right.

Once again Sakura found a feral rage building up inside her, her bright green eyes turning dark as she struggled to get herself together. She was always like this, letting her emotions get the better of her. It was her own damn fault; she was the one who had let Sasuke get into her mind, letting him hold the authority to question her actions.

'_And now I'm letting the other Uchiha get into my mind too...'_

It hurt her to remember about the younger Uchiha that had taken her heart with him all those years ago. It hurt her more to think that how much similar the two brothers were, now that she was getting to see Itachi for herself, reminding her painfully of the younger version of him. Right now all she wanted was to bury the painful feelings associated with the thoughts of Sasuke in the deepest corner of her heart; she was sick and tired of always getting hurt.

But forgetting Sasuke had never been something her heart or mind was good at, and now all her effort seemed to go to waste as seeing Itachi and being around him only reminded her more of the younger brother as the more she tried not to.

It was much later that the ache in her chest was dulled out and much later that Sakura found herself stumbling her way back her room, her eyes red and puffy.

Sasuke was still the last thought on her mind as dreamless sleep came down on her eyes.

* * *

Sakura had known that bathing so late would have its toll on her. And right so, because the next morning she found herself walking into the kitchen nursing a constant pattern of sneeze that could very well turn into a nasty cold if went untended.

There seemed to be no one in the vicinity, and she couldn't be gladder. Groaning as her head spun again, she dragged herself over to the fridge and contemplated over what to eat. She saw a half empty carton of orange juice and grabbed it, and also the left-over bowl of soup from the previous night.

Sakura then proceeded to heat the soup over in the stove and pour the orange juice in a glass. When everything was done, she said her prayers and began her breakfast. It wasn't long before Tobi flew into the room out of nowhere, making her choke on a mouthful of soup.

"Kunoichi-san!" He exclaimed in panic, approaching her. But she waved her hand at him, indicating that she was alright as she cleared her throat.

Tobi prepared himself a cup of tea and took a seat opposite of her. Sakura didn't feel like looking up at him, since it would only remind her of last night's events. She suppressed a shudder and then reminded herself that the orange masked man sitting in front of her was _only_ Tobi.

She found herself wondering how Tobi had even made it into the Akatsuki. She considered asking him, and then discarded the thought. Tobi would most likely answer her queries, as naive as he was; but Sakura didn't want to stick her nose to other people's personal matters.

"Is there something bothering Kunoichi-san?" He asked suddenly, breaking through her thoughts. She took the time to look up at him and gave him a small smile, not choosing to answer; she didn't want to lie to him.

"If Kunoichi-san doesn't want to tell it is okay, but Tobi would like to know what troubles Kunoichi-san so much."

Annoyed at his persistence, Sakura decided to ask him anyways, hoping that it would make him drop the topic, "How is it that someone like you joined the Akatsuki, Tobi-san?"

Tobi froze on his seat, and there was silence for a long time. Sakura took the last few spoonfuls of her soup, before wiping her mouth with a napkin. Tobi was looking out the kitchen window, lost in his own thoughts. She was glad to see that he didn't pursue the topic.

Finally he rose to leave, "Everything is not what it seems to be," he said quietly, almost as if to himself.

Sakura barely heard him, and when she did she wondered what he meant by his words. There was an aura of melancholy hanging around him and she was inclined to question him further, but bit back her curiosity. Curiosity killed the cat, she remembered the proverb. It was unlikely that Tobi would ever as much as scratch her, but she didn't want to impose on personal matters.

At least he had dropped the matter of her troubles, she acknowledged with a sigh of gratitude.

About half an hour later of Tobi's departure to the backyard, she knew for she could feel his chakra lingering outside, Sakura had employed herself to move around and get familiar with the kitchen. She didn't really care for it, but did it anyways out of sheer boredom.

The three bursts of energy appeared out of nowhere on the grid of her senses, sending alarms ringing in her head. She tensed and shifted on the balls of her feet as silently as she could, and waited. When nothing happened, she extended her senses over the area.

She exhaled loudly as she realized that it was none other than her Akatsuki captors. She had not been familiar with their chakras signatures, and now that she thought about it, they always seemed to have it hidden, hence her wariness. She wondered why they had revealed their chakra now of all times. Bored with her current occupation anyways, she decided to go see what they were doing for herself.

She walked over to the direction where their chakras emitted from.

The hallway was empty, but one end of it seemed to be bathed in sunlight. Taking a deep breath and moving slowly along the cold, stone floor, she neared it with caution. She passed the den. The main door was left ajar, letting in a shock of bright sunlight. Moving again, she went towards the light. Thoughts ran across her mind about being caught near the door and being accused to escaping, until she felt the warmth of the sunlight on her outstretched hand.

It was not her intention to encroach, lest she be in trouble, but the sunlight seemed to beckon her out towards it. Another small step took her out of the sanctuary of the household. The instant she stepped out the door, a shock of chakra washed over her, far more intense than the ones she had experienced while waddling around the threshold. But there was nothing else to stop her.

She hesitated and then took a few tentative steps out on the porch, glancing around. The previous scenery of the thick forest and the pond stretching over the area vanished; only to be replaced by a golden maze of what Sakura assumed was wheat as far as her eyes could make out.

'_Country of Rice,'_ she recognized. Her captors had put up a genjutsu barrier around the place to ensure her ignorance of their location.

Peeking slowly over the doorframe, she could see the four men near the other side of the expanse a long way away. It didn't seem like Itachi cared if she stayed inside or not, as he never gave her a glance back. So she thought it might be a good chance to test the boundaries a little. Besides, she didn't really care as she had no intention of running away, not with three or four Akatsuki hot on her trail. She wouldn't even live to see the end of the rice maze.

As Sakura stood on the threshold, her face felt that tingling warmth of the sun's heat that she was so used to living in Konoha's sunny weather. She breathed deeply and smiled. There was only gold as far as her eyes went. Slowly she began to strode over to where the four men were lounging, enjoying the weather as much as she could. It felt good to breathe in the fresh air after being coped in with fear and loneliness in the cold, dark house for two long days. She noted that this was the first time she felt the slightest bit of being alive since her captivity.

When she approached them, Kisame was the first to speak, "Thought you were going to take the first chance out to escape, Pinky."

Sakura frowned at his intended mockery and replied, "Not everyone is so stupid, Kisame-san."

It was a miracle who she got past around these cold killing machines with so much audacity. Her mouth was going to be the death of her, she could tell, one time or another.

Kisame chuckled and strapped his huge sword on his back. She looked around at the maze that was churned to ash around them, revealing the brown ground underneath. They had been sparring.

She glanced at Tobi who was chasing some kind of a butterfly... she didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the sight. A slight smile tugged on her lips at the man's antics.

Her eyes fell on Itachi who seemed to be lounging back, watching the sparring session of what Sakura assumed was between Kisame and Deidara. She nodded quickly at him in acknowledgement and removed her gaze as soon as his eyes caught hers. After the detour her mind had taken late last night, even a sidelong look at him reminded him more of Sasuke than ever. She gritted her teeth.

She could feel his eyes boring to her back as she turned away to Kisame and eyed his sword. She was curious about the weapon; it didn't strike to her as the ordinary type. Kisame noted her stare and smirked.

"What, taking a fancy on Samehada now?" He asked. Sakura shook her head. Would it be seen as a threat or an attempt to extract information on Akatsuki if she made queries about the shark nin's sword?

"I had seen only another sword as big as that, many years ago."

This seemed to have caught the blue skinned man's attention as he asked, "Where did you see it?" He asked.

Sakura kept her eyes glued on the gigantic sword in the white bindings as she answered, "It belonged to Zabuza Momochi. My team was faced in a battle with him in a mission in the Land of Wave when we were genin."

Kisame broke out in laughter, "That weird kid?"

Sakura looked at him in surprise, "You knew him?"

Kisame nodded and smirked, "Of course. He was a weirdo, a little cracked too."

She raised a brow at him, "Cracked? That's high, coming from you."

Kisame rolled his eyes, "Funny. Anyways, I heard that he made it into the Seven Swordsmen of Mist, and never heard of him again. To think that a miniature version of you with pink hair and all, coming face to face with him-" He again howled in laughter and Sakura felt her cheeks flush.

"He was killed in that mission, by my sensei," she told him, eager to see his reaction to the information, wanting to take a little pleasure at his expense. Such information would have alarmed any other man in a sane mind, but unfortunately Kisame possessed no such thing. He only blinked and then chuckled.

"A fitting end if you ask me," he shrugged. She didn't say anything, just went back to observing his sword.

Kisame sighed, "You are right, Samehada is not just any ordinary blade," he patted the sword fondly making it emit a grilling sound much to Sakura's astonishment. Kisame looked at her expression and smirked, "Samehada here doesn't cut through the flesh," Kisame paused to lick his lips, "It shaves off the flesh."

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked back at the sword and felt fear creep up her system.

"It is also capable of detecting and absorbing chakra, as you have noticed it," he eyed her and Sakura now knew how it was that her chakra had always remained drained at the minimum level. Then Kisame laughed, "But only I'm able to wield Samehada; if others try to as much as pick it up, spikes will protrude from its handle. Samehada is loyal to my chakra through and through." Kisame broke out in a maniacal laughter.

Sakura grimaced, what an awful sword Samehada was. She turned to the presence that had walked over to stand beside her.

"Deidara-san," she greeted him, her eyes lowered to the ground. Now she could feel Itachi's eyes return on her back... making her fidget.

Itachi was lounging back on the porch. Kisame walked away towards his partner, leaving Sakura to Deidara. Tobi had finally caught the poor butterfly in his fingers and watched it with rapt attention as it struggled for freedom.

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced, yeah," he said.

"Haruno Sakura," she automatically introduced herself. She hadn't seen it possible for them to call her anything other than 'kunoichi' as they had been calling her all this time, the exception being Kisame whose name for her was worse than 'kunoichi' can ever be.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan," his eyes crinkled at her making her wonder how someone as dangerous as him could ever be as nice. She nodded meekly, concentrating her eyes on her toes.

"I can't help notice that the name sounds very familiar, yeah," his brows were drawn in concentration. Sakura's eyes widened as she realized how Deidara could ever have heard about her...

Akasuna no Sasori.

She found herself dreading of his reaction towards her when he realized that it was her who had a major contribution in Sasori's demise... Surely, he wouldn't blame her. Akatsuki wasn't really known for their attachment to their partners or their unending loyalty to their comrades... So Deidara wouldn't give a damn, would he?

'_And why do you care of whether he gives a damn about it or not?'_ She found herself being reminded by her Inner self. Her emerald eyes narrowed, yes, why should she care of how Deidara felt towards her? He could hate her as much as she hated him, it shouldn't bother her. After all that he has done to Gaara...

'_But Gaara is alive isn't he?'_ A part of her defended and Sakura flinched at her own thoughts. How was it that she could think of forgiving him for the pain that he had inflicted on her friends' lives?

Wasn't Deidara the reason why Gaara had been at death's doors? Wasn't Sasori the reason why they had almost lost Kankuro? Wasn't Itachi the reason why she had her heart broken by Sasuke? Wasn't Akatsuki the reason why Naruto couldn't even breathe without thinking about it first?

"Of course, Senpai knows kunoichi-san from before! Kunoichi-san defeated Sasori-danna," Tobi had finally chosen to let the butterfly fly away into the sky and decided to join in their conversation at that precise moment much to Sakura's dismay.

Sakura could feel the piercing silence that rode between them with Tobi looking from her face to Deidara's, finally realizing that he had said something that had caused the atmosphere to darken.

Sakura kept her eyes down casted. But why should she be the one feeling guilty? She wasn't the one who had done wrong was she? She had only killed Sasori because he had been in her way of her mission to protect her friends... So why should she feel ashamed at the face of Deidara who had done more malice than killing off one enemy?

Then she realized with a jolt that wasn't Sasori too protecting what he believed was right? She still remembered how twisted Sasori's thinking had been, wanting to be more a puppet than a human. She also remembered how he had calmly asked her if it was something a shinobi should say when she accused him of not knowing what a family was. But now that she thought about it that was exactly what was expected of most shinobi. They were expected to serve a cause and to put it before their personal interest.

'_Didn't he fight for his beliefs and his goals? Is he any different from me when it came to killing? I have killed just many in the name of Konoha, in the name of protecting my friends and my beliefs. Is my killing any more justified than theirs?'_

'_Of course it is!'_ Her inner yelled, _'They kill just for the heck of it.'_

There was a burst of energy and Sakura felt herself flying across the paddy field before the blonde was on her. Her eyes widened a faction as she took in his flying hair, his blue eye clouded with a passion to kill her, no doubt. She felt his grip around her throat tighten. She closed her eyes.

How did her actions justify if theirs did not?

_**"I will soon die. Before that, I'll do something pointless for you... a... reward for defeating me... you wanted to know about Orochimaru, didn't you...?"**_

Guilt came crashing down at her as she remembered the last words Sasori had spoken to her. He had given her the very thing that she had then wanted and couldn't get anywhere else...

She found herself thinking that she indeed deserved to die for all the lives that she had taken in her negligence. Why hadn't these thoughts ever come to her mind? Why hadn't she found herself pondering over these thought before being faced with the choices of nuke-nins?

'_How could everything I believe in be right, if theirs aren't?'_

"Deidara don't be childish."

Sakura's eyes snapped open to meet those of Itachi's which were trained on the blonde who had her trapped in a death grip. For a moment she cursed Itachi for interfering, didn't he see that she deserved to die?

No one moved, but then Deidara let go of her throat as if his hands had burned. He staggered back, his blue eyes in which she had only seen an endless mirth until now, still in its wild haze.

"Uchiha, step back! I will kill her!" He snarled at Itachi who stood in front of her, in between Deidara and her, as if he was... protecting her.

"You will do no such thing," Itachi said coldly, staring down at Deidara with his spinning red eyes.

"I will if I want to!" Deidara yelled before diving towards the Uchiha, throwing a barrage of little clay birds at him.

_BOOM!_

_CRASH!_

Sakura closed her eyes as she felt the bombs go off and a searing burning sensation hit her body. She doubted her screams could be heard over the loud noise of bombs going off all around her.

When Sakura opened her eyes, she was in the elder Uchiha's arms, gripping his robes tightly as he flew across the field towards the house.

"I-Itachi-san?" She asked hesitatingly, not even noticing that it was the first time she used his first name.

Itachi looked down at her with his crimson gaze for a moment, before looking back up again. He came to a stop as he reached the porch of the house where Kisame was calmly standing, observing this entire time.

"Kisame," was all Itachi said, putting her down on her feet, before disappearing.

Sakura wobbled on her feet, only to be caught in Kisame's arms. Sakura stiffened and then slowly relaxed when she saw him give her a smirk and shake his head. He seemed to mean no harm.

_BOOM!_

_BANG!_

_CRASH!_

The dreadful noises of Deidara's bombs rang throughout the area. Sakura noted how all the paddy field around them had withered away in the combination of Deidara's bombs and Itachi's trademark Fire Justus.

Fire had caught to the ends of the golden crops, she saw. Tobi appeared out of the thin air and stood beside Kisame, observing the same sight as them.

And then a few seconds later Itachi too, appeared in the line of her sight. There was no injury on him.

"Where is Deidara-san?" She demanded, dreading the very worst. No, she told herself, Itachi can't just kill off a comrade. He will have to answer to his Leader for such an impulsive action.

Itachi looked over at her and pinned her for a long time with his gaze, making her want to sink further into Kisame's arms.

Without removing his eyes off hers, he said to Kisame, "Kisame, put out the fire."

The shark man nodded and put her down on her feet before walking away. Fortunately, this time her steps didn't falter.

Itachi was then standing in front of her, mere inches away from her as he whispered into her ear, "Tell me, kunoichi, why are you concerned for Deidara? He is one of us, is he not?"

What could she tell him? She herself had no answer to that question. She cared for Deidara... just because she cared... she couldn't find any justification for it. But then why not Kisame? Why not Itachi himself?

The thoughts puzzled her to no end and evoked the dull throbbing pain in her head.

Itachi was persistent as he whispered softly, "Tell me."

The gentleness in his voice scared her. She answered back truthfully, her throat dry, "I-I don't know."

Itachi moved back as they heard Kisame approach them, supporting a panting Deidara. A Deidara who was bloodied and as pale as a ghost. Panic coursed through her as she realized that he was losing too much blood too soon.

Before she even knew it she was off the porch, running to meet the pair halfway. Kisame seemed positively astonished as she yanked the wounded blonde from him and helped him sit down on the steps of the porch.

Her hands glowed green before she knew what she was doing. And then after five minutes of extreme concentration and deathly silence, Deidara was healed completely. His blue eyes widened as he looked down at himself. Sakura found it hard to believe that someone with as much authority as his could be shocked as much as he was. He looked simply awed as he examined his hands over and over, clearly unable to believe his eyes.

And then silence followed, until Sakura was sure that a pin could be heard if dropped. She glanced at all of them; no one said anything as they just looked at her.

Discomfited with the uncomfortable silence, she reverted back her eyes to Deidara and asked softly, "Do you feel any pain anywhere, Deidara-san?"

Deidara shook his head as if he was still in a kind of trance. Sakura nodded and kept her eyes fixed on a stone step of the porch.

"Kunoichi."

She didn't look up despite the urge to do so. She bit her lips. Was Itachi angry with her for healing Deidara when he had clearly meant the wounds to teach the blonde a lesson?

"Since you don't seem to have any qualms about healing Akatsuki anymore, I'll consider it as a yes to the offer."

"Never," she snarled, jumping up to her feet in pure reflex and glaring up at him.

Itachi suddenly stood hovering over her. The shock that she hadn't seen him move scared her and she shrank back, not letting her eyes stray up to meet his under any condition. His face was unreadable.

He didn't seem angry, but she associated him to a stray wolf that comes to sniff your hand calmly before taking a chunk of your leg.

The adrenaline surged through her and she tried to access some chakra, just in case. But there was none after healing Deidara. The fear was getting to her, as well as the pain and she turned away from him, clutching her temple to stop the throbbing pain in there. She trembled against the back of the stone step, her body turned and her back exposed to him. She couldn't take any more of this.

"Is this what you want? Then you win. I'm scared. Just how far will you push me until it all ends?" She whispered, her tone fraught with misery and terror, an odd combination altogether.

Silence rode through the room, making the air thick with intensity. And then he vanished. Sakura could feel the tears that threatened to take over. She looked down at Deidara who still looked baffled by the turns of the events. Tobi lingered over them, not knowing what to do. Kisame just stood there, his head cocked, his small dark eyes shining.

Needing a distraction in order to push back her tears, she frowned and stalked over to Kisame much to his amusement and yanked at his arm and snapped grumpily, "Might as well heal you."

Kisame laughed, "Maa, maa, I didn't even say anything."

"Shut up."

Just how much further did Uchiha Itachi plan on pushing her before she reached her limit?

* * *

_To be continued..._

* * *

**A/N:** So Sakura keeps refusing their offer... what happens now? Stay tuned to find out.

And of course, thanks to everyone who took the time to review, favorite, or simply alert.

**A Little Birdie Tells Me. **


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